CANBERRA, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government said on Friday that scientists have observed signs of the deadly H5 strain of avian influenza in elephant seals on a sub-Antarctic island.
The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry said in a joint statement that signs were observed by Australian Antarctic Program scientists on a visit to Heard Island.
"Scientists observed unusual levels of mortality in elephant seals on Heard Island in recent days," it said.
"There were no observations of unusual levels of mortality in other species present on the island, including penguins and other seabirds."
An uninhabited external Australian territory, Heard Island is located in the Southern Ocean about 4,000 km southwest of the Australian mainland and 1,700 km north of Antarctica.
The departments said that seeing signs consistent with H5 bird flu on the island is not unexpected after it was previously detected on nearby islands.
Australia is the only continent that has not had a confirmed case of the highly contagious strain and a confirmed detection on Heard Island would not substantially increase the risk to the mainland, the departments said.
The scientists on board the flagship RSV Nuyina safely collected samples, which will be submitted for confirmatory testing when it returns to Australia in mid-November.
The federal government has committed over 100 million Australian dollars (65.1 million U.S. dollars) in funding to boost Australia's preparedness for a bird flu outbreak, and in September 2024 convened a major national exercise to test the biosecurity response to the H5 strain. Enditem
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