Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza / bird flu

[Michael Szabo]

The Agreement on the Protection of Albatrosses and Petrels reports that high pathogenicity avian influenza has killed more than 50 Wandering Albatrosses on Bird Island in the South Atlantic:
https://www.acap.aq/latest-news/high-pa ... Oz130ZumQU

[Michael Szabo]

DOC and MBIE officials prepare contingency plan for avian influenza

Environmental officials are preparing a contingency plan as avian influenza inches closer to our shores. The disease has killed millions of animals globally however New Zealand has remained relatively protected from it due to our isolated location. But as the disease enters the southern hemisphere, that's not necessarily the case anymore.

Cases of the highly-infectious H5N1 strain have been confirmed in birds and seals across some sub-Antarctic islands, as well as a case on Antarctica's mainland.

The Ministry for Primary Industries says the risk here is still considered 'low', however it will be monitoring whether any new cases overlap with our birds' migratory patterns.

Kathryn Ryan speaks with MPI's chief veterinary officer Mary van Andel, and also the Department of Conservation's technical ecology adviser Bruce McKinlay, who is involved in a vaccine trial involving a small number of native birds.

Link: https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programm ... -influenza

[Michael Szabo]

Bird flu has been confirmed in 10 penguins on South Georgia, one of the world's great wildlife havens - BBC

Bird flu has been confirmed in 10 penguins on South Georgia, one of the world's great wildlife havens.

Avian influenza had already infected other seabirds and mammals on the British Overseas Territory, but scientists report gentoo and king penguins have now fallen victim, too.

The breeding season is closing on the sub-Antarctic island so the immediate impacts are likely to be limited.

But there'll be concern for next season when wildlife gathers again en masse.

The beaches on South Georgia are famous for their spectacular aggregations - a million-plus individuals all jostling together to court, mate and bring up their young.

"I liken South Georgia to the Alps with Serengeti-style wildlife around it. The wildlife concentrations around the coast are just phenomenal - multiple species of penguins, albatrosses, and seals," explained Dr Norman Ratcliffe, a bird ecologist from the British Antarctic Survey.

"If bird flu were to take a hold and cause very high mortality across the island, it would be of conservation concern globally. But at the moment, it does seem to be somewhat limited in the way it's spreading," he told BBC News.

High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI) has been in existence for decades but the world is currently in the grip of a major flare up, with the H5N1 strain of the virus causing the deaths of countless wild and domesticated birds.

Antarctica and its outlying islands have escaped the worst due to their remoteness. But this situation is on the turn.

Bird flu was first identified on South Georgia in October 2023, in the large scavenging seabird known as the brown skua, with detections in kelp gulls shortly after.

Then, in January this year, cases were confirmed in elephant and fur seals.

It's also spread to Antarctic terns and wandering albatrosses.

Penguins are the latest animal group to be infected, with five gentoos and five kings testing positive.

The cases were confirmed in samples sent back to the UK to the International Reference Laboratory for Avian Influenza at the Animal & Plant Health Agency (APHA) laboratories in Weybridge.

It's not a great surprise. The virus has already got to gentoos on the Falklands some 1,500km to the west, so it was probably only a matter of time before South Georgia's also became infected.

"Skuas winter around South America as do giant petrels and we think these birds are the vector that bought the disease into South Georgia," Dr Ratcliffe said.

"Skuas are constantly in amongst the penguin colonies scavenging and preying on eggs and chicks. If there's a surprise, it's that it's taken this long for the virus to be manifested in the penguins."

Scientists are watching closely now to see how bird flu interacts with the different penguin species, which on South Georgia include kings, gentoos, macaronis and chinstraps.

Macaronis, for example, will spend much of the coming southern winter at sea, which will help them avoid infection. Kings and gentoos, however, will continue to roost on shore, leaving them open to further exposure.

As for the Antarctic proper, two dead skuas infected with HPAI were recently picked up by Argentine scientists near their Primavera base on the continent's peninsula, so the virus is unquestionably moving south.

But how far it would progress and what its impacts might be was highly uncertain, said Dr Ashley Banyard, who leads the avian virology workgroup at the APHA.

"Penguins live in very close proximity to each other, so that lends itself to the idea that they might spread the virus rapidly between each other. But we don't know how easily the virus can get into different penguin species, what sort of clinical disease it might cause and how rapidly it might spread between birds themselves," he told BBC News.

Surveillance is key, and this is being assisted by the many cruise ships that now sail in Antarctic waters.

Members of the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) have long had protocols to prevent the accidental spread of disease by tourists in pristine environments, but these have now been stepped up because of bird flu.

"Nobody lands on a beach until there's been an assessment done to show if there's any strange behaviour or high mortality," said Amanda Lynnes, the director of environment and science coordination at IAATO.

"Antarctica is a huge continent but we're actually quite a small community in a way, so the information flow goes rapidly to all stakeholders who need to know and can advise.

Link: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/511469 ... TOeaoDuGP0

[Michael Szabo]

400,000 chickens have been killed in Victoria, as bird flu spreads there

The saga of bird flu outbreaks in Victoria is continuing as state officials confirmed a second poultry farm had been hit with it.

The property is located in the Terang region, southwest of Ballarat and is linked to the initial H7N3 outbreak on the Meredith property where the first case was located this week.

While an estimated 400,000 chickens were killed in an effort to halt the spread of the influenza, the detection of the second case has forced Control Orders to be put in place.

These orders restrict the movement of any poultry, poultry products, vehicles and equipment on or off properties in the lockdown areas between the two infected farms.

This includes a restricted area covering a 5km radius around the Meredith farm with a 20km buffer zone, and a 1.5km restricted zone around the Terang farm with a 15km buffer zone.

Link: https://www.news.com.au/national/victor ... 00ae3016ca

[Kimmyh51]

This is something that is concerning me now in May 24, after reading about the h5n1 and other avian flue in Aust and reading news articles saying that it is going to arrive here soon.

What do people think? Is its arrival in NZ inevitable? Or scaremongering?

Also WTAF, is the vaccination for poultry banned?
Not just in short supply or unavailable, but apparently banned, so that even if I could find a supplier of the vaccine overseas, get my vet to sign off and pay to import it for my birds, which are rescue birds so not part of the food chain....i would still be breaking the law?! Wtf is the logic in this??? Why the hell is there a ban on me vaccinating rescued and wild birds when surely the worst case scenario is it doesnt work and the best is that the wild birds which get vaccinated and as free range birds fly off, are less likely to spread the virus among wild populations? i am beyond baffled and frustrated at the logic in the banning of vaccination of any bird in NZ, especially given it gets to our shores and a single bird anywhere near my flock 8 am sure the powers that be will want to euthanise every single bird even if most or even all are not infected....

I get why they would want to cull an entire flock if it was considered to be a risk. I don't get why we are banned from sourcing and vaccinating our own flocks to reduce the chance of infection in them, especially when they are a mix of wild and pet birds and not part of the food chain.

What plans do other have for this, especially anyone who has rescue birds or free range poultry or other flocks who cant be easily locked up if it gets here, and who cannot vaccinate their birds due to it being banned...

[Michael Szabo]

Joe Russell has just posted to Facebook this photo of an Australasian Gannet with abnormally dark eyes that looks similar to Northern Gannets that have had avian influenza - he saw it in King George Sound, Albany, Western Australia on 14/07/24. Gannets normally have pale yellow eyes so if anyone in NZ sees a gannet with dark eyes please try to get photos and report it.

Irises of gannets that survive avian flu turn from blue to black, study finds:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... tudy-finds

[boneywhitefoot]

Yep that's the sign

[Michael Szabo]

Small trial on native birds is part of preparations for arrival of deadly strain of H5N1 avian flu, which has not yet been reported in New Zealand:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/artic ... -flu-virus

[Neil Fitzgerald]

A slightly encouraging take on things from Australia, published earlier this year.

That, like in 2022, there was no incursion of HPAI in Australia in 2023, despite the arrival of millions of migratory birds, could possibly be attributed to two factors. First, while the virus's host reservoir has substantially widened and intensified beyond waterfowl, waterfowl are markedly absent from the list of migrants to Australia. HPAI-infected waterfowl appear to migrate without negative effects, but it is unclear whether migratory culling may prevent the arrival of HPAI-infected shorebirds and seabirds to Australia. Second, migrants to Australia predominantly use the East Asian Australasian Flyway (EAAF). Aside from few countries, such as Japan, there are few HPAI outbreaks reported in wild birds along the EAAF, suggesting a potentially low-virus exposure potential for long-distance migratory birds using the EAAF. Further, in Asia, ancestral HPAI H5 lineages, such as 2.3.2.1c in Cambodia or 2.3.2.1a in Bangladesh, are endemic and continue to circulate. We speculate that exposure to these more ancestral lineages may potentially result in cross-protection against 2.3.4.4.b in both poultry and wild birds, serving as a potential explanation why outbreaks of lineage 2.3.4.4b HPAI are remarkably limited in East Asia

Wille, M., Atkinson, R., Barr, I. G., Burgoyne, C., Bond, A. L., Boyle, D., Christie, M., Dewar, M., Douglas, T., Fitzwater, T., Hassell, C., Jessop, R., Klaassen, H., Lavers, J. L., Leung, K. K. S., Ringma, J., Sutherland, D. R., & Klaassen, M. (2024). Long-Distance Avian Migrants Fail to Bring 2.3.4.4b HPAI H5N1 Into Australia for a Second Year in a Row. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses, 18(4), e13281.
https://doi.org/10.1111/irv.13281

[Nick Allen]

It's in Hawai'i now - has been for about 1 month at least.

https://health.hawaii.gov/docd/disease_ ... influenza/

https://mailchi.mp/706e51e67d79/elepaio ... 2-10143404