An ibis perched next to the Reserve Bank of Australia headquarters, in downtown Sydney, Australia Daniel Munoz / Reuters Australia confirmed this Monday (22) a second case of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu in the state of Western Australia, two days after recording the first infection in the country's continental territory. The government stated that it will continue to adopt measures to contain the spread of the virus. The new case was identified in a migratory seabird known as a northern giant petrel, found sick on a remote beach.
On Saturday, authorities had already confirmed the infection in another migratory bird, a brown petrel. Both birds were located near the coastal town of Esperance, about 570 kilometers southeast of Perth, the capital of Western Australia. “We are working very closely with the chicken, meat, and egg production sectors to do everything possible to reinforce biosecurity and prevent the virus from reaching production systems,” said the Minister for Agriculture, Julie Collins. When asked about the possibility of keeping the disease out of farms indefinitely, Collins replied that there are no guarantees.
“We don't know the answer to that. It's a hypothesis,” she said. Human infections by the virus continue to be rare.
However, the global spread of avian flu has caused the culling of millions of birds in recent years, affecting food supply and putting pressure on prices. Until now, Australia was the only continent without a confirmed case of H5N1 in its continental territory. The virus had only been detected at the end of 2025 on Heard Island, an Australian subantarctic territory located about 4 thousand kilometers from the continent. Now on g1 As part of the prevention strategy, the country has reinforced biosecurity protocols on farms, expanded testing of coastal birds, vaccinated species considered vulnerable, and conducted outbreak response simulations. The poultry producer Inghams announced that it will implement a total preventive lockdown in all its farms and processing units in Western Australia. The company emphasized that there has been no detection of the virus in commercial birds, including its operations and supply chain.
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