Post by Nadica (She/Her) on Jun 15, 2024 6:40:21 GMT
Avian flu outbreak spreads to new species in Australia - Published June 13, 2024
Six farms have now been infected across one state, impacting the supply of some supermarket products.
Australia’s deadly avian flu outbreak has spread to a new species. For three weeks the virus had only spread among egg laying chickens, but on Thursday evening authorities confirmed it had reached a duck farm.
The highly contagious H7N3 strain has now been detected at six farms across Victoria, resulting in the destruction of hundreds of thousands of birds. Its spread has impacted the supply of eggs, with Coles supermarkets announcing a temporary limit of two cartons per customer nationwide, except in Western Australia.
The strain impacting Victoria is a different variant to H5N1 which has spread to at least 48 wild and domestic mammal species as well as poultry and migratory birds.
While the current outbreak of H7N3 has so far been restricted to poultry, when it comes to H5N1, there have also been rare cases in humans. In March a boy returning to Australia from India was discovered to be infected.