Following the 11-year-old’s death from the H5N1 strain, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has described the situation as “worrying”.
A wave of bird flu has been spreading since 2021, posing a potential public health risk.
The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources( DAFF) says, “The H5N1 strain has never been reported in Australia”.
However, Street Side Medics founder and former Young Australian of the Year, Dr Daniel Nour, has urged vigilance all the same.
“It’s important to stay vigilant and it is important, for researchers and epidemiologists, to look into it closely with the WHO. We need to have a level of caution,” Nour told Weekend Today.
“If you see a dead bird on the road or around you, try and avoid it.”
Bird flu, also known as avian influenza, normally spreads between sick poultry but can sometimes spread from poultry to humans.
The recent detection of infections in a variety of mammals – including at a large mink farm in Spain – has raised concern among experts the virus could evolve to spread more easily between people.
“It is notoriously spread among birds but three or four weeks ago we heard it was spreading to sea lions in Spain,” Nour said.
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“That was concerning. Whilst humans are a poor reservoir for bird flu, they can get infected.
“The concern is that the virus has mutated and there may be evidence of human-to-human transmission.”
Nour added it’s unlikely for the virus to trigger another pandemic.
“I don’t think we need to get particularly worried,” he said.
According to the World Health Organisation, there were 56 bird flu cases in humans in Cambodia from 2003 until 2014, and 37 of them were fatal.
Globally, about 870 human infections and 457 deaths have been reported to the WHO in 21 countries, for an overall case fatality rate of 53 per cent.
Gallery: Spanish Flu, the pandemic of 1919
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