CANBERRA, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Australia's third mainland case of the H5N1 high pathogenicity avian influenza has been confirmed in South Australia (SA), authorities said on Wednesday.
Peter Malinauskas, the Premier of SA, said that the deadly strain was detected in a migratory giant petrel that was found sick at a beach about 70 km south of the state capital of Adelaide on June 14.
It is SA's first confirmed case and the third in the Australian mainland following cases that were confirmed in migratory birds found in southern Western Australia (WA) on June 14 and 18, respectively.
Authorities in WA earlier on Wednesday reported a third suspected case of the H5N1 strain in a bird found in the state's southwest, which will be subjected to confirmatory testing.
Speaking to reporters, Malinauskas said that Australia has been preparing for the arrival of the strain for several years.
"We have had plans that we have been working on for the possibility of H5 bird flu coming into South Australia, and we are now in the process of bringing those plans to life," he said.
Prior to the detection of the first case, the federal government had committed over 113 million Australian dollars (about 78.1 million U.S. dollars) in funding for measures to prepare Australia for an outbreak of H5N1.
Julie Collins, the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, said on Wednesday that the reported case in SA was concerning, but that it was not unexpected that infected migratory birds may have arrived across the Australian coastline. ■
