Bird Flu Outbreak Hits Australian Egg Farms H7N3 and H7N9 Strains Detected
Hundreds of thousands of birds have already been destroyed after bird flu was found at two Australian egg farms last month.
The third farm is within a few kilometers of the first to report infection and both have the same H7N3 strain of the virus, while the other farm had an H7N9 strain, the state government.
All three farms have been placed in quarantine with restrictions on movement in surrounding areas.
“The detection of avian influenza at this additional property is not unexpected and is the result of ongoing surveillance activities within the Restricted and Control Areas,” said Graeme Cooke, Victoria’s chief veterinary officer.
The outbreak poses no risk to consumers of eggs and poultry products, the government said.
Australia has seen nine outbreaks of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) since 1976, all of which were contained and stamped out.
In recent years a different strain of bird flu H5N1 has swept the globe, killing huge numbers of farmed and wild birds. It has also spread to tens of mammal species and through the U.S. cattle herd and infected three people in the United States and one in Australia.
