Australia’s third poultry farm has detected H7 bird flu

CANBERRA: A third chicken farm close to Melbourne has tested positive for highly dangerous avian influenza, but the strain found there is not the same as the one that has spread over the world and sparked concerns about human transmission, the Victoria state government announced on Wednesday. 

After avian flu was discovered at two Australian egg farms last month, hundreds of thousands of birds have already been wiped out.

The third farm has the same H7N3 strain of the virus as the first, and both are located within a few kilometres of each other; the other farm, according to the state authorities, had a H7N9 strain.

Movement within the surrounding areas is restricted and all three farms are under quarantine.

The government stated that there is no risk to consumers of eggs and poultry products from the epidemic. 

Since 1976, there have been nine instances of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in Australia; nevertheless, each outbreak was confined and eradicated.

A distinct type of bird flu known as H5N1 has recently spread over the world, killing a great deal of wild and farmed birds. Along with infecting three Americans and one Australian, it has also spread to tens of animal species and the US cow herd. – REUTERS