{"id":832565,"date":"2026-07-30T03:05:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T03:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/832565\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T03:05:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T03:05:16","slug":"deadly-bird-flu-strain-discovered-in-victoria-for-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/832565\/","title":{"rendered":"Deadly bird flu strain discovered in Victoria for first time"},"content":{"rendered":"

The deadly H5 bird flu strain<\/a> has been detected in Victoria<\/a> for the first time.<\/p>\n

After a confirmed case was first discovered in a sick migratory seabird in Western Australia<\/a> last month, the highly contagious virus has since crossed multiple state borders and has been discovered in Portland in the state\u2019s south-west.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Bird flu has been detected in a greater crested tern in Victoria.\u00a0Neil Bowman<\/p>\n

Agriculture Victoria said the virus was detected in a greater crested tern and genetic testing is now underway to confirm the result at the CSIRO\u2019s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness at Geelong.<\/p>\n

A \u201cconcerned member of the public\u201d identified the sick bird and contacted Wildlife Victoria on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWildlife Victoria monitored the case until Agriculture Victoria responders arrived on scene to contain and test the bird. The tern was confirmed positive to H5 bird flu shortly after,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe detection of H5 bird flu in Victoria is incredibly worrying and we\u2019re working closely with the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) to understand the implications this will have on our Emergency Response Service, veterinary staff, and the work of our volunteers across the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Victorian Farmers Federation President Ryan Milgate said the strain was detected in a wild bird, meaning commercial poultry flocks are unaffected at this stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile this detection is concerning, it\u2019s not unexpected and the wider agriculture industry has been undertaking an enormous amount of preparation over the past few months for this very moment,\u201d Milgate said.<\/p>\n

Authorities yesterday said it is believed H5 bird flu is being transmitted between birds in\u00a0South Australia<\/a>, sparking fears for a colony of endangered sea lions at a popular tourist hotspot.<\/p>\n

SA Primary Industries Minister Clare Scriven confirmed 11 suspected cases of the H5 strain of bird flu had been detected among greater crested terns in the state.<\/p>\n

Seven of the suspected cases were detected the state\u2019s south-east and four were discovered on\u00a0Kangaroo Island<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Members of the public have been urged to continue to\u00a0report dead and sick birds<\/a>, keep up to date with the situation at\u00a0birdflu.gov.au<\/a>, and not to touch dead birds.<\/p>\n

Before today, there have been are 27 confirmed H5 bird flu detections, including 14 in\u00a0South Australia<\/a>, 10 in\u00a0Western Australia<\/a>, two in\u00a0NSW<\/a>\u00a0and one in\u00a0Queensland<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The deadly H5 bird flu strain has been detected in Victoria for the first time. After a confirmed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":832566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-832565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=832565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/832566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=832565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=832565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}