Govt funds bird flu fight as H5N1 spreads between mammals

The Australian Government has announced it is investing nearly $7 million to fight the threat posed by a potential incursion of H5 high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI), which has caused significant deaths of poultry, wild birds and wild mammals overseas. Australia is now the last continent to remain free of the H5 strain, as noted by Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Murray Watt.

“The arrival of migratory birds from areas where H5 HPAI is present — particularly as spring approaches — means we face a constant risk that is outside of our control,” Watt said.

“We can’t stop the natural migration patterns of wild birds that may be sick, but we can prepare ourselves if that does occur.

“That is why we are investing $6.9 million in enhanced capability to detect and respond to avian influenza in wildlife.”

The investment includes:

• $2.2 million for the Wildlife Health Australia One Health Surveillance Initiative;
• $1.95 million to Animal Health Australia to support the national response capability for avian influenza in poultry, including investigating the potential of commercial avian influenza vaccines for use in Australia;
• $1.1 million to extend the National Avian Influenza Wild Bird Surveillance Program for a further four years;
• $800,000 for communication with stakeholders, industry and the general public to strengthen awareness and understanding of Australia’s biosecurity measures and preparedness;
• $580,000 to support early detection and response capability for H5 HPAI in wildlife;
• $200,000 for analysis to quantify the location, structure, biosecurity, routine husbandry practices and movement patterns of Australia’s commercial poultry industries;
• $70,000 to better understand the link between the presence of H7 low pathogenicity avian influenza in Australian wild birds and the outbreaks of H7 HPAI in Australian poultry.
   

The funding announcement came just days after the Invasive Species Council, the Australian Marine Conservation Society and the Biodiversity Council called on Australia’s governments to ramp up preparations for bird flu in wildlife, following new research providing the first strong evidence of mammal-to-mammal transmission of the deadly H5N1 strain.

Published as a preprint, the research finds evidence of the strain causing mass deaths of elephant seals and sea lions since it reached South America and spread from north to south within six months. It appears that H5N1 jumped at least three times from wild birds to marine mammals on the Pacific coast of South America and then evolved to spread between elephant seals. It may have then jumped back to birds.

“Since arriving in South America in late 2022, bird flu has killed more than 30,000 South American sea lions, 17,000 southern elephant seal pups and unknown numbers of porpoises, dolphins and otters, as well as at least 650,000 native birds,” said Dr Carol Booth, Invasive Species Council Principal Policy Analyst.

“If high-pathogenicity bird flu turns up in Australia, the government-commissioned risk assessment predicts ‘catastrophic’ impacts on our native birds.

“That risk assessment predicted only minor impacts on marine mammals, but the latest research implies the risk to Australian mammals is now much higher.”

Invasive Species Council Advocacy Director Jack Gough noted that the latest government funding is not new money, but a reprioritisation of existing departmental resources. More funding and focus will therefore be needed in the months ahead to reflect the seriousness of the threat.

“The science tells us this virus is likely to arrive with the spring migration of shorebirds from the Northern Hemisphere in a few months’ time,” he said. “When it does it could wipe out hundreds of thousands of native birds, tens of thousands of seals and other marine mammals, and even lead to localised extinctions.

“We are particularly concerned at the lack of engagement from environment agencies around the country and are calling on [Environment] Minister Plibersek to step up and make this issue a priority.”

Image caption: Counting dead terns at Punta Leon in Argentina in November 2023, during a massive outbreak of H5N1 among marine mammals and birds. Image ©Marcela Uhart, UC Davis.