SYDNEY: Australia on Sunday (Aug 23) confirmed its first case of H5N1 hen flu in a mammal, with the lethal virus present in a long-nosed fur seal in South Australia state.
Australia has been grappling with rising circumstances of the extremely pathogenic avian influenza after it landed within the nation in June. The nation’s first mass seabird deaths from the virus occurred this month, marking an escalation of the outbreak that started after the virus was first detected in migratory seabirds earlier than spreading to native species.
South Australian authorities confirmed the nation’s first mammalian detection within the seal, discovered on the coastal city of Beachport, about 310km south of Adelaide, the state capital.
The seal, considered one of an estimated inhabitants of 100,000 within the state’s waters, was discovered useless with no indicators of damage, the authorities mentioned.
Its demise “doesn’t look like related to different sick or useless marine mammals,” federal Agriculture Minister Julie Collins mentioned in televised remarks. “As soon as the H5 hen flu is spreading within the pure surroundings it’s not potential to keep away from important losses.”
Australia was the final continent to report hen flu, though the virus was detected in late 2025 on the sub-Antarctic territory of Heard Island. Greater than 13,000 child seals have been killed by the virus on the island, in line with native media.
Seals are at excessive threat of contracting the virus, mentioned South Australia’s chief veterinary officer, Skye Fruean, as a result of they reside very close to wild birds on rocky outcrops on the coast.
“They might be coming throughout, little doubt, actually excessive ranges of the virus of their surroundings,” Fruean mentioned in televised remarks.
H5N1 has not proven up in Australia’s poultry or agriculture, in line with the federal authorities, which mentioned on Friday that 297 circumstances have been confirmed nationwide.
