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H5N1 avian influenza has been detected on Australian soil for the first time, with authorities confirming the virus in a brown skua seabird near Esperance on the south coast of Western Australia — meaning the pathogen has now established a presence on every continent.
The find, made in Cape Le Grand National Park, arrives as markets are already pricing in prolonged disruption to global poultry and egg supply chains, following a sustained H5N1 outbreak in the United States that has killed millions of birds and pushed grocery prices sharply higher.
Global Spread Removes Last Remaining Buffer Australia had been one of the last major agricultural economies without a confirmed mainland H5N1 case, a status that offered at least notional insulation from the supply-chain shocks reverberating through Northern Hemisphere food markets.
Australia's federal Agricultural Secretary Julie Collins acknowledged the inevitability of the development, saying the country knew it could not remain bird flu-free indefinitely.
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