Australia recorded the first case of a child contracting bird flu this Wednesday. Authorities speculate that he may have got the virus in India, while another highly contagious strain was found on a chicken farm, Australian media reported.
The government officials said the child contracted the bird flu in India but has already made a full recovery. Meanwhile, medics have discovered another highly contagious strain on an egg farm near Melbourne in the south-eastern state of Victoria.
The H5N1 strain of bird flu has swept the world in recent years. The deadly virus has killed billions of farm and wild birds and spread to dozens of mammal species.
Victorian health officials said they had found no new cases when tracing contacts, and the likelihood of contracting the virus was extremely low because the flu does not spread easily between people. Dr. Claire Looker, the state’s chief health officer, said in a statement:
This is the first confirmed human case of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Australia.
This is the first time the H5N1 strain has ever detected in a human or animal in the country, she added. Dr. Looker noted:
The child experienced a severe infection but is no longer unwell and has made a full recovery.
She also added that Victoria’s case involved the H5N1 virus, but this strain is not similar to those that have caused outbreaks in the US.
World situation with the virus
Earlier in 2024, a farm worker in Texas tested positive for the virus, which spread through a herd of cattle in the US.
In 2020, there was an outbreak of the H7N7 virus in Victoria, the most recent of nine outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Australia since 1976. The government said it had promptly suppressed all cases.
UK health officials have not recorded a single case of the H5N1 virus in cows. Experts say England has a reputation for strong animal health systems designed to track and monitor changes in signs of disease.
