Avian Flu Spreads to Second Farm in Australia’s Victoria State
- Two farms have been quarantined after H7N3 strain was detected
- Australia is only continent reported free of deadly H5N1 virus
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Hundreds of thousands of egg-laying chickens are reported to have been culled in Australia’s southeast as quarantine measures are put in place to contain outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza.
The H7N3 bird flu strain was detected on a farm in Terang, about 212 kilometers (132 miles) southwest of Melbourne, agriculture officials in Victoria state reported Thursday. The property is directly connected through joint management, staff and machinery of a farm at Meredith, about 130 kilometers northeast of Terang, where some 400,000 chickens were culled this week to stamp out the virus, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.