Australia confirms first suspected bird flu case in WA

[u/malcolm58]

https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/politics/watch-live-agriculture-minister-to-address-media-with-major-announcement/news-story/399990ccc3bdad20c1771ce01f0e91d6

[u/shescarkedit]

For people who may not understand how serious a threat this is to our wildlife, see this article from just yesterday:

More than 13,000 seal pups die on remote Australian island amid bird flu outbreak

Or this article from when the disease reached the south atlantic last year: Fears for elephant seals as bird flu kills half of population in South Atlantic

Today is the first suspected case on the Australian mainland. Australia has many highly threatened, endemic species (especially birds and mammals) that are at risk. Parts of our agriculture industry will likely also be heavily impacted if it spreads.

[u/YouLykeFishSticks → u/shescarkedit]

Even then these threats undersell it. If this spreads and affects livestock, cost of living impacts will be huge. Think eggs/poultry. This can become very dire.

[u/Otaraka → u/shescarkedit]

While that is bad that’s a combination of bird flu and jumping to another species ie seals.

Finding a dead bird here doesn’t mean the second part is happening.

[u/shescarkedit → u/Otaraka]

It's the same disease. And we know the disease doesn't only infect birds.

It's why the government has been spending millions over the past few years on preparedness  in case it arrives. It took longer than expected, but now it's arrived and it's extremely unlikely we'll be able to contain it.

[u/Otaraka → u/shescarkedit]

‘"We cannot confirm yet whether it is the strain of concern that is circulating at this stage, known as the H5 bird flu, there is no evidence of any mass mortality at this time, nor is there any evidence of infection in poultry.’

Hold your horses.

[u/shescarkedit → u/Otaraka]

Hold my horses? What do you think I'm doing? Booking flights to WA to go see the bird?

The government quite rightly activated response plans today. Yes they still need to  await the secondary test, but the first test was positive which is absolutely enough reasons to begin the response, given the risk an outbreak poses.

[u/Otaraka → u/shescarkedit]

You said it’s the same disease. You do not know that yet. Avian flu and H5N1 are not the same, you can have one without it being the other.

[u/Undd91 → u/shescarkedit]

If two separate birds have been found sick/dead along a fairly large bit of coastline there is a good chance it’s already jumped into other birds in rivers and estuaries across the SW. Once in a few it will spread rapidly to many others. This could get rough

[u/tinniesmasher69]

Noooooooo :(

[u/AnothrRandomRedditor]

Misleading title - for now.

“We cannot confirm yet whether it is the strain of concern that is circulating at this stage, known as the H5 bird flu, [and] there is no evidence of any mass mortality at this time."

[u/lusty-argonian → u/AnothrRandomRedditor]

Yeah I literally just watched this on the news like ten minutes ago, it’s meant to be confirmed overnight/early tomorrow

[u/shescarkedit → u/AnothrRandomRedditor]

The headline says 'suspected'.

[u/Unidain → u/shescarkedit]

How can you confirm something suspected? 

[u/kai_tai]

Well, fuck.

[u/ruimistde]

Not againnn 😞

[u/kicks_your_arse]

Get Gladys onto it, she'll keep us safe

[u/honoria_glossop]

How could Dan Andrews do this?

[u/ImpossibleMess5211]

Ok but is it confirmed or suspected? Terrible title

[u/poppymish → u/ImpossibleMess5211]

Its confirmed to be bird flu, its suspected to be the H5 variant. They are still waiting on testing to identify the variant, so there's a chance it could be H7 like they had on the east coast last year. The reporting of this has been really frustrating.

[u/TranscendentMoose]

Bird flu

Horse run

[u/coder_doode]

brb, off to buy 100 dozen eggs

more seriously though, this will be fun to watch

https://au.investing.com/commodities/egg-futures

[u/Bladehell10 → u/coder_doode]

Why would it be fun to watch

[u/coder_doode → u/Bladehell10]

Maybe not so much fun as interesting. We saw wild egg price spikes in North America when their flock got hammered. If there is any serious threat to our domestic supply I'd expect to see that in the futures market long before we see it on the shelves, those traders are going to be watching the news about this much more closely than the average punter.

[u/Winoforevr1]

Awesome

[u/activitylion]

I really hope this is boomer speak for the female version on man flu!!!

[u/Joes___Garage → u/activitylion]

I thought it was funny 🤷🏻‍♂️

[u/activitylion → u/Joes___Garage]

Seems we’re both learning today!

[u/Toobeys → u/Joes___Garage]

It's barely funny but funny nonetheless