/ By Jane McNaughton and Warwick Long
Posted 18h ago18 hours ago, updated 14h ago14 hours ago
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- In short: Avian influenza has been detected at an egg farm in Victoria, leading to hundreds of thousands of chickens being euthanased.
- Testing has revealed the strain to be H7N3, a different variant to the one that has sparked fears of a global outbreak.
- What’s next? The property is in quarantine and poultry keepers are being urged to monitor their birds carefully.
Hundreds of thousands of birds have been euthanased at a Victorian egg farm after the detection of avian influenza.
The property near Meredith, in the state’s west is in quarantine and testing has revealed that the strain of the disease is H7N3, which is the most commonly occurring variant in Australia.
Agriculture Victoria said the detection was the result of investigations of poultry deaths at the farm.
The confirmation comes amid fears of a global bird flu outbreak following the widespread detection of the H5N1 strain overseas.
Victorian Chief Veterinary Officer Graeme Cooke said avian influenza was present in Australian wild birds and “from time to time spilled over into the domestic poultry population”.
“We are putting in place all the requirements to prevent it spreading any further and removing the chance of any onwards spread,” he said.
“This area [surrounding the detection] does have a high density poultry businesses, both egg laying and meat.
“Poultry farmers, backyard flock and bird owners are urged to report any cases of unexplained bird deaths to the 24-hour Emergency Animal Disease Hotline on 1800 675 888, or to your local vet.”
Global outbreak
Avian influenza is a highly contagious virus that affects bird species and some variants can spread to other species, including humans.
There’s an animal pandemic sweeping the world. Will humans be next?
There are many types of bird flu, including the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain, which has been a cause of concern for local authorities as there is a global outbreak which has been detected in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, North America, South America and Antarctica.
Dr Cooke said all variants of bird flu were of serious concern and it was a relief that H5N1 was not detected in the outbreak near Meredith.
“In the USA and other parts of the world the H5N1 virus is causing great concern, as it has behaved unusually, as it has infected dairy cattle and some other marine mammals and so on.
“This is not the strain that we’re dealing with.”
After the news of the outbreak near Meredith was reported on Wednesday, the Victorian government announced that a human H5N1 infection had been reported in Victoria.
The case related to a child who returned from overseas in March.
The child experienced a severe infection, the government said, but made a full recovery.
The outbreak near Meredith and that infection are not related.
Bird flu was last detected in Australia in 2020, when it was found on an egg farm south of Ballarat.
This resulted in multiple outbreaks in Victoria and led to tens of thousands of farmed birds being euthanased.
Agriculture Victoria is urging all poultry and bird owners to follow biosecurity practices such keeping poultry sheds, yards, aviaries and equipment clean and restricting contact between poultry and wild birds.
Bird owners should also ensure their footwear is clean, always wash their hands before and after handling birds or eggs, and quarantine new birds before integrating them with flocks.
Consumers should not be concerned about eggs and poultry products from the supermarkets — they do not pose a risk and are safe to consume.
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Posted 18h ago18 hours ago, updated 14h ago14 hours ago
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