Australia, New Zealand brace for looming bird flu threat
By Peter Hobson and Lucy Craymer
CANBERRA/WELLINGTON, Oct 9 (Reuters) -Australia and New Zealand are bracing for the arrival of a destructive bird flu strain by tightening biosecurity at farms, testing shore birds for disease, vaccinating vulnerable species and war-gaming response plans.
Oceania is the last region of the world free of the H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b avian influenza that has killed hundreds of millions of birds and tens of thousands of mammals since appearing in Asia, Europe and Africa in 2020, littering beaches with corpses and upending the agricultural industry.
While the region is somewhat protected by its geography - it is off the migration routes of big birds such as geese that spread infection - the virus is close, having reached Indonesia in 2022 and Antarctica last year.
Scientists and officials say there is a higher risk, particularly in Australia, of it arriving with smaller migratory shore birds during the Southern Hemisphere springtime months from September to November.
"It is clearly a threat to our country's ecosystems," said Fiona Fraser, Threatened Species Commissioner at Australia's environment ministry.
"Many of our species are found nowhere else in the world," she said. "Vulnerable species may face long-term population setbacks and heightened risk of extinction."
Officials fear mass deaths from the avian flu and even the near-extinctions of species including endangered sea lions, black swans and many types of seabird, and the loss of millions of farmed poultry.
Over 100 million chickens and turkeys have died or been culled in the United States alone from this H5N1 strain, causing economic losses of up to $3 billion by the end of last year, according to the Council of Foreign Relations, a U.S. think tank.
The virus killed around 50,000 seals and sea lions and more than half a million wild birds as it moved through South America beginning in 2022.
It has also infected cattle in the United States and, in rare cases, people. Health officials say the risk to humans is low.
New Zealand is also unlikely to avoid the virus long-term, said Mary van Andel, chief veterinary officer for the country's Ministry of Primary Industries.
"Geographic isolation has protected us from HPAI (high pathogenicity avian influenza) in the past, but we can't rely on it forever," she said.
'WARTIME'
Both countries have intensified preparation.
Australia created a task force across government departments and stress-tested its preparedness in August and September with a series of exercises simulating an H5N1 outbreak in wildlife.
New Zealand has trialled a vaccine on five endangered native birds and said it could be rolled out to more species.
"We're super paranoid about those five species, because the risk to them of losing the breeding population is that we could lose the species," said Kate McInnes, science advisor at New Zealand's Department of Conservation.
Australia is also developing options for vaccinating threatened wild birds held in captivity, officials said. The two vaccination schemes are among the only ones for non-farmed animalsin the world.
Farms are boosting biosecurity measures includinglimiting contact between poultry and wild birds, monitoring employees' movement, sterilising water and equipment and installing automated systems that detect wild birds and scare them away, industry officials from both countries said.
While Australia has had numerous outbreaks of highly pathogenic bird flu strains in poultry flocks, including earlier this year, they were less-virulent strains that did not spread through wild birds.
New Zealand has never faced high pathogenicity bird flu. Its poultry industry association has organised trips to both Australia and Britain to learn from farms there.
"We've been at peacetime," said Poultry Industry Association New Zealand Executive Director Michael Brooks. "Frankly, now we're potentially heading to wartime."
Oceania has had longer than other regions to prepare for the arrival of H5N1, but while the poultry industry can lock down, wild populations cannot be contained.
"We've learned a lot from the way the disease has spread across the world. We've stepped up our preparedness as best we can," said Brant Smith, an official at Australia's agriculture ministry overseeing the country's response.
"But every single continent has seen huge mortality events in wildlife. We are likely to see this occur here too."
Reporting by Peter Hobson and Lucy Cramer; Editing by Christian Schmollinger
면책조항: XM Group 회사는 체결 전용 서비스와 온라인 거래 플랫폼에 대한 접근을 제공하여, 개인이 웹사이트에서 또는 웹사이트를 통해 이용 가능한 콘텐츠를 보거나 사용할 수 있도록 허용합니다. 이에 대해 변경하거나 확장할 의도는 없습니다. 이러한 접근 및 사용에는 다음 사항이 항상 적용됩니다: (i) 이용 약관, (ii) 위험 경고, (iii) 완전 면책조항. 따라서, 이러한 콘텐츠는 일반적인 정보에 불과합니다. 특히, 온라인 거래 플랫폼의 콘텐츠는 금융 시장에서의 거래에 대한 권유나 제안이 아닙니다. 금융 시장에서의 거래는 자본에 상당한 위험을 수반합니다.
온라인 거래 플랫폼에 공개된 모든 자료는 교육/정보 목적으로만 제공되며, 금융, 투자세 또는 거래 조언 및 권고, 거래 가격 기록, 금융 상품 또는 원치 않는 금융 프로모션의 거래 제안 또는 권유를 포함하지 않으며, 포함해서도 안됩니다.
이 웹사이트에 포함된 모든 의견, 뉴스, 리서치, 분석, 가격, 기타 정보 또는 제3자 사이트에 대한 링크와 같이 XM이 준비하는 콘텐츠 뿐만 아니라, 제3자 콘텐츠는 일반 시장 논평으로서 "현재" 기준으로 제공되며, 투자 조언으로 여겨지지 않습니다. 모든 콘텐츠가 투자 리서치로 해석되는 경우, 투자 리서치의 독립성을 촉진하기 위해 고안된 법적 요건에 따라 콘텐츠가 의도되지 않았으며, 준비되지 않았다는 점을 인지하고 동의해야 합니다. 따라서, 관련 법률 및 규정에 따른 마케팅 커뮤니케이션이라고 간주됩니다. 여기에서 접근할 수 있는 앞서 언급한 정보에 대한 비독립 투자 리서치 및 위험 경고 알림을 읽고, 이해하시기 바랍니다.
