Written by Peter Hobson and Lucy Craymer
CANBERRA/WELLINGTON (Reuters) – Australia and New Zealand are bracing for the arrival of a devastating bird flu strain by strengthening farm animal safety, testing shorebirds for disease, vaccinating vulnerable species and combating it.
Oceania is the last region in the world free of the H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b avian influenza that has killed hundreds of millions of birds and tens of thousands of mammals since it emerged in Asia, Europe and Africa in 2020, littering beaches and corpses and waking up. agricultural industry.
While the region is somewhat protected by its location – it is off the migration routes of large birds such as geese that spread the disease – the virus is imminent, having reached Indonesia in 2022 and Antarctica last year.
Scientists and officials say there is a high risk, particularly in Australia, of it arriving with small migratory shorebirds during the Southern Hemisphere's spring months from September to November.
“It's clearly a threat to our country's ecosystem,” said Fiona Fraser, Australia's endangered species commissioner.
“Many of our species are found nowhere else in the world,” he said. “Endangered species may face long-term human problems and the risk of extinction.”
Officials fear more deaths from bird flu and even the extinction of species including endangered sea lions, black ducks and many species of seabirds, and the loss of millions of domesticated chickens.
More than 100 million chickens and turkeys died or were killed in the United States alone because of this strain of H5N1, causing economic losses of up to $3 billion at the end of last year, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, a US think tank.
The virus killed nearly 50,000 seals and sea lions and more than half a million wild birds as it swept through South America since 2022.
It has also infected cattle in the United States and, in rare cases, humans. Health officials say the risk to humans is low.
New Zealand is also unlikely to avoid the virus for long, said Mary van Andel, a veterinary officer at the country's Department of Primary Industries.
“Geographic isolation has protected us from HPAI (high pathogenicity avian influenza) in the past, but we cannot rely on it forever,” he said.
'WAR TIME'
Both countries have strengthened preparations.
Australia created a task force across government departments and tested its preparedness in August and September with a series of exercises simulating an outbreak of H5N1 in wildlife.
New Zealand tested the vaccine on five endangered native birds and said it could be rolled out to other species.
“We are very surprised by those five species, because their risk of losing their breeding population is that we would lose those species,” said Kate McInnes, a scientific adviser to the New Zealand Department of Conservation.
Australia is also developing ways to vaccinate endangered wild birds in captivity, officials said. These two vaccination programs are among the only for non-domesticated animals in the world.
Farms are developing safety measures including limiting contact between poultry and wild birds, monitoring worker movements, sterilizing water and equipment and installing automated systems that detect wild birds and scare them away, said industry officials in both countries.
While Australia has had several outbreaks of highly virulent strains of bird flu in poultry flocks, including earlier this year, they have been of less virulent strains that are not spread by wild birds.
New Zealand has never experienced high pathogenicity bird flu. The poultry industry association has organized trips to Australia and Britain to learn from local farms.
“We've been in a bit of a lull,” said Poultry Industry Association New Zealand Chief Executive Michael Brooks. “In fact, we may now be heading into wartime.”
Oceania has had longer than other regions to prepare for the arrival of H5N1, but while the poultry industry can't shut down, wild people can't.
“We've learned a lot from how this disease has spread around the world. We've strengthened our preparedness as much as we can,” said Brant Smith, Australia's agriculture department chief responsible for the country's response.
“But every continent has seen major incidents of wildlife deaths. We may see this happening here as well.”
