Squiz Shortcuts - Bird flu

Your Shortcut to… bird flu

There’s been another outbreak of bird flu in Victoria, where thousands of chickens have been culled, adding extra pressure to our egg and poultry industry. It’s the latest in a series of flare ups locally, but overseas, the US has been grappling with a far deadlier strain of the disease. So in this Squiz Shortcut, we’ll explain:

• what bird flu is

• how it affects poultry and humans

• and what’s being done in response.

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Squiz the Shortcut

What exactly is bird flu?
It’s a disease caused by strains of the avian influenza A virus. There’s a lot of different strains, and most occur naturally in birds and aren’t a threat to other species - but some are considered highly pathogenic, or infectious. It’s those types that can be particularly harmful for poultry. And they’re mostly carried by wild water birds.

How does it spread to chickens and other poultry?
Those water birds spread it far and wide during their migratory patterns to farmed birds like chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys. And it travels through flocks of chickens very fast because they’re often close together to feed or in a coop. 

How can you tell if a chicken is infected?
The symptoms range from birds that are lethargic and lack appetite, to swelling and breathing problems… In most cases, the disease will likely kill a whole flock within 48 hours, which is why euthanasia is considered a humane way of dealing with the animals.

Can humans catch it?
Yes, in rare cases. The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) advice on bird flu is that it can be harmful, and even fatal, to humans if they contract it - but they’d have to be in close contact with sick birds and their feathers and droppings for that to happen. Farm workers and vets are most at risk, and they’re advised to wear protective gear to handle animals. 

What about by eating eggs or chicken?
To clear up a common misconception, humans can’t get bird flu by eating chicken products if they’re cooked properly, so the government’s health advice is that eggs and chicken meat in the food system are safe to eat. The other thing to note is that the disease doesn’t transmit easily from person to person.  

Got it… Where are the latest cases in Victoria?
It’s been found at 3 poultry farms in the north of Victoria, which has resulted in around half a million chickens having to be euthanised. 

Is it related to the outbreak last year?
No, it’s a completely new outbreak, and a slightly different strain to last year’s one - that was the worst outbreak of bird flu Australia has seen.

It was a bad one…
It sure was… Between May and July last year, more than 2 million birds were euthanased across 16 farms in NSW, ACT and Victoria… It had huge ramifications for our $3 billion dollar poultry industry - everything from big losses for farmers through to an egg shortage that saw buyers limited to 2 cartons each. And those limits look like they’ll be hanging around for a while yet.

Is that why eggs are so eggspensive?
Nice one… The answer is yes. Less chickens = less eggs = low supply. But there’s still the same demand for eggs, and that, coupled with increased production costs due to safety regulations, has resulted in a sharp jump in prices. In Australia alone, the price of an average carton of eggs rose by 11.2% in the last quarter of 2024. But that’s nothing compared to the US, where they’ve risen by 300%...

What’s happening in the US?
There’s a much deadlier strain of the virus that’s been spreading through their big food-bowl states. It’s different to the strains found here which are variants of the H7 strain. The one in the US is the H5N1 strain, which has been found in birds and mammals on every other continent on the planet except Australia, and it’s wiped out hundreds of species of birds.

How long has it been there?
It was first detected in wild birds in late 2021. And within a couple of months it began to cause outbreaks in commercial poultry farms. That bout is still going; it’s killed over 150 million birds, which has resulted in a massive egg shortage and those high prices we mentioned. But authorities are especially worried about how the virus is behaving.

What do you mean?
Well, while the H7 strains that we’ve had here don’t normally last long in mammals as a host, experts say the H5N1 strain has “mutated” and it’s now being detected in cattle, where it’s surviving for longer periods. They’re concerned that it’s adapting to mammals more easily - which means it could begin to infect humans more severely. 

Have there been any human cases in the US?
Yep… Since 2022 there’s been 69 human cases in the US - and in January, the first death of a human patient who’d been hospitalised with bird flu was recorded in Louisiana… 

Yikes…
Reports say the patient was over 65yo and had underlying health conditions, but the situation in the US has escalated in recent weeks to “crisis point” according to some agricultural experts.

What’s being done in response?
As you’d imagine, scientists at the US Department of Agriculture have been hard at work on a response, but the recent change in the American government has caused more disruption to the industry. 

What sort of disruption?
All of this is happening as US President Donald Trump’s administration is making big cuts to government staffing and research funding. As part of those cuts, reports say the government fired several scientists working on bird flu, only to re-hire them days later. Trump has also withdrawn the US from the WHO which means it’s stopped sharing data on the disease with the rest of the world…

Do they have a plan?
They say they’re working on alternative ways to tackle bird flu using more precautions and vaccines rather than culling whole flocks of birds. But there’s been some criticism from industry groups who say most countries won’t accept exports of poultry that have been vaccinated because of fears that it masks the presence of the virus. 

Are we preparing for H5N1 in Australia?
Yep, we’re on high alert for H5N1, and reports say it’s a case of “when, not if” it arrives… In the meantime, the federal government has committed more than $100 million for producing our own vaccines, as well as putting together a plan to protect our most vulnerable species and sites…

It’s all hands on deck…
It sure is, because experts have warned that if we don’t properly prepare, the arrival of the disease could be catastrophic for our native wildlife as well as our poultry industry - as we’re seeing in the US.

Onto our Recommendations

Reading: This piece in The Conversation called: A deadly bird flu strain is headed for Australia – and First Nations people have the know-how to tackle it. It details the relationship Indigenous communities have to our native wildlife, particularly our bird life, and what they have to offer in the national response to bird flu.

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