Authorities say the risk of infection from birds to humans is low.
Professor Raina MacIntyre, who leads the global biosecurity program at the University of New South Wales’ Kirby Institute, says this is due to the way this virus operates.
“Avian influenza viruses adapt to birds, and birds have specific receptors in the upper respiratory tract that we don’t have. These viruses spread easily only among birds and some mammals, not among humans,” he said.
In South America, hundreds of thousands of seabirds have died from the H5N1 variant. Reports indicate that the virus is present in Antarctica.
“Antarctica is a concern for us,” Professor MacIntyre said, “because if the virus is in Antarctica, then there could be other birds escaping that could bring it to Australia.”
He said the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found fragments of the virus in dairy products for sale in grocery stores. However, none of these samples yielded evidence of live virus.
This is likely due to the pasteurization process, which kills the virus.
In Australia, food standards require most milk or dairy products to be sold commercially to meet pasteurization requirements.
Unpasteurized or raw milk, other than goat’s milk, cannot be sold as a food product, although some states have exceptions that allow local producers to sell raw milk and cheese under strict circumstances.
The World Health Organization, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Europe, the United States and Australia, are not alarmed by the risk of a larger outbreak affecting humans, but health experts have said that it is important to keep an eye on how the virus evolves.
