A suspected positive case of H5 bird flu has been identified in New South Wales, the state agriculture minister has announced.
Samples were taken from a giant petrel near Hawks Nest on the Mid North Coast that tested positive for the strain of influenza in preliminary testing.
The samples have been sent to the CSIRO to confirm if it is a H5 high pathogenicity avian influenza, or bird flu, strain.
The NSW government said it marked the first wild migratory seabird in the state to return a suspected positive result.
“Importantly, bird flu has not been detected in commercial poultry flocks, captive birds or any other birds in NSW,” a spokesperson said.
“Nor has it become established in any part of Australia.”
The first-known bird flu case in Australia was confirmed last month in a brown skua seabird at Western Australia’s Cape Le Grand beach.
The bird was a sub-Antarctic species.
Since that case there have been four confirmed cases in WA and one in South Australia.
H5 strain of avian influenza, known as H5N1 2.3.4.4b, has spread quickly across the world through the movement of wild birds, causing mass mortality in poultry and sea mammals globally.
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