Australia’s Queensland confirms H5N1 bird flu case, fourth state

SYDNEY, July 25 (Reuters) – Queensland became Australia’s fourth state to confirm a case of H5N1 bird flu after authorities said on Saturday that a migratory seabird tested positive for ‌the highly pathogenic virus.

Australia was the final continent to confirm a mainland case of H5N1 when the disease arrived in June, although it had been detected in late 2025 on the ​sub-Antarctic territory of Heard Island, about 4,100 km (2,600 miles) from continental ​Australia.

Eighteen infections have now been confirmed across four states, including ⁠in the dead petrel found by Queensland park rangers at Moreton Island, a wilderness area about 40km (24 miles) by ferry from state capital Brisbane.

“There remain no detections in poultry, nor evidence of large-scale deaths in any animals in Queensland,” the authorities said in a statement, adding that the risk to human health remained low.

The virulent strain of bird flu ​has spread through ⁠wild bird and mammal populations since 2021, killing millions, infecting poultry and dairy farms and even some farmworkers.

Earlier this month, Australia’s centre-left government confirmed the first case of the virus in a local seabird, raising ​concerns the disease was starting to spread more widely.

(Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by Kim Coghill)