Monday, June 22, 2026

Australia: 2nd H5N1 Infected Bird Confirmed

 
Agriculture Minister Julie Collins Statement

#19,215

Overnight here in the states, Australia's Agriculture Minister and other officials held a press conference and announced the 2nd suspected H5N1 infected bird (Giant Petrel) has been confirmed positive by the CSIRO lab. 

Thus far, only two wild birds - both found in the Cape Le Grand National Park (see map below) - have tested positive. 


For now, Australia's poultry industry has not been affected, and the risk to human health remains low. The public, however, is urged to remain vigilant, and asked to  avoid any physical contact with sick or dead birds and to report sightings to the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline at 1800 675 888.

Animal Health Australia has posted the following update:

Latest emergency response news

Updated: 22 June 2026

H5 high pathogenicity avian influenza (H5 bird flu) has been detected in two wild birds in Western Australia.

The infected birds — a brown skua and a northern giant petrel — were found in the Cape Le Grand National Park, around 50km east of Esperance in Western Australia.

This is the first time the globally circulating H5 bird flu strain has been detected in Australia.

At this stage:
  • there have been no detections in poultry
  • there is no evidence of any mass mortality in wildlife or spread to other animals 
  • there are currently no trade restrictions on poultry or poultry products for export out of Australia.
H5 bird flu is a low health risk to the public and rarely affects humans. Bird flu is not a food safety risk for chicken meat and eggs if they are handled and cooked correctly.

The Western Australia Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) has responded swiftly to the detection and is leading response activities on the ground. This includes enhanced surveillance, working closely with industry, veterinarians, wildlife carers, and local communities.

National coordination is being led by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF).

Further information is available at birdflu.gov.au.

For more background information, The Conversation has published 3 excellent explainers from well known Australian researchers over the past couple of days:

C Raina MacIntyre, UNSW Sydney and Pan Zhang, UNSW Sydney
The outbreak isn’t widespread, so the risk to humans is low. But it does have the potential to cause severe illness.

Published: June 22, 2026
Bird flu is here. Can we stop the spread?

Jane Younger, University of Tasmania
An ecologist explains how Australia can curb the spread of the H5N1 strain.


Published: June 20, 2026
The first case of H5N1 bird flu in Australia has been confirmed. What does this mean?

Marcel Klaassen, Deakin University; Meagan Dewar, Federation University Australia, and Michelle Wille, The University of Melbourne
This is not the moment to call defeat. There is a chance we can stop this infectious virus, this time at least.
 
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