New Zealand Confirms First Case of Highly Pathogenic Bird Flu

Wellington (ANTARA) - New Zealand has confirmed the first detection of a highly pathogenic H5 avian influenza strain, after a brown skua tested positive for the strain at Petone Beach in Wellington, the nation’s capital, a senior official announced on Wednesday (15 July).

“This is a detection in a coastal area in a seabird that lives in the open ocean, and there is no evidence of mass deaths in wildlife or transmission between wild birds in New Zealand. There has been no detection in poultry,” said New Zealand’s Biosecurity and Food Safety Minister, Andrew Hoggard, in a statement.

The virus, identified as H5N1 avian influenza clade 2.3.4.4b, is circulating globally and was recently detected in sporadic cases among birds along the Australian coast.

According to the statement, H5 avian influenza poses a low health risk to the public, as it rarely infects humans except through direct, close and prolonged contact with large numbers of sick birds. It added that eggs and poultry remain safe to consume.

The authorities urged the public not to touch or handle sick or dead birds, and to report any groups of three or more affected birds.

New Zealand’s Department of Conservation has begun vaccinating 300 breeding birds from five of the country’s most endangered species, including the kakapo and the takahe, as part of preparedness efforts.