Australia on Friday confirmed the first case of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus in a native seabird, marking a new phase in the disease's spread after it landed on the country's shores last month.
Laboratory testing by Australia's national science agency confirmed the case in a greater crested tern found in the South Australian coastal town of Robe, Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said.
It is the first confirmed infection in an Australian seabird, with all other cases being found in migratory seabirds.
It brings the total number of confirmed detections in the country to 12, after authorities on Friday also confirmed two additional infections in South Australia and one in Western Australia.
Collins said the development was "concerning" but not unexpected, adding that there was still no evidence of mass mortalities or spread to the poultry or broader agriculture sector.
"Our scientists are undertaking further work to establish the potential pathway that resulted in the Australian sea bird's infection," she said.
"What we do know is that this is a coastal seabird that has been overlapping coastal range with migratory seabirds that have previously tested positive for H5."
Australia became the last continent to confirm a mainland H5N1 case in June. The virus had previously been detected in late 2025 on Heard Island, a sub-Antarctic territory located about 4,100 km from mainland Australia.
A supertanker which was cruising through the Strait of Hormuz was targetted by an unknown projectile off t...
The defence ministers of Azerbaijan, Türkiye and Georgia met in Shusha for their 13th trilateral meeting, with talks focused on regional secur...
Around 400 schools across France remained closed on Friday as protests over teacher shortages and deteriorating buildings escalated into violence, ...
Yemen's air force carried out 20 strikes on Houthi targets earlier on Friday, Brigadier General Majid Abdullah Al-Nuzaili, Spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, said. Meanwhile, the Iran-backed Houthis denied targeting a power plant supplying energy to a mosque in Medina, Saudi Arabia.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel may participate in the investigation into a serious incident aboard a flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv, while investigators examine the motive of the co-pilot involved.
Swiss glaciers lost more than 5 per cent of their ice in 2026, making it one of their worst years on record as a dry winter and repeated heatwaves accelerated melting across the Alps.
Passengers from a flydubai flight that was diverted to Saudi Arabia after an alleged attempt to crash the aircraft have arrived safely in Israel.
Russia has warned NATO that it would be prepared to use nuclear weapons if the Western alliance attempted to isolate Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea, according to a diplomatic document seen by Reuters.
Global cholera deaths reached their highest annual level in more than 20 years in 2025, despite a decline in reported cases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Chinese researchers have developed the world’s smallest CT scanner, a portable device designed to produce images of tiny fossils and archaeological relics.
Here's your AnewZ Daily Brief for 17 September 2026. These are the top five stories making headlines in the field of health.
Doctors in St. Louis have successfully separated Ethiopian two-year-old twin girls who were born joined at the head after a months-long series of complex operations culminating in a nearly 25-hour final procedure, doctors said on Wednesday.
Tobacco use may significantly reduce fertility in both men and women, according to a new World Health Organization (WHO) publication that highlights growing evidence linking smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke with reproductive health problems.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment