“This has changed the risk of the disease reaching New Zealand,” Ministry for Primary Industries chief veterinary officer Mary Van Andel said.
The strain has emerged in several states in the United States and has spread from wild birds to poultry to dairy cattle, a first for the U.S. dairy industry.
“And those cows were moved around the United States, and the disease spread between the cows during the milking process,” Van Andel said.
“The strain we’re concerned about has adapted to persist in wild birds and we can’t control wild birds from entering New Zealand.”
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that as of June 13, the virus had been detected in 12 states and on 101 dairy farms in the US.
A few people have been infected.
Meanwhile, in Australia, 240,000 birds have been culled in the past two days in the state of New South Wales.
Earlier this week, more than one million people died in Victoria state for the same reason.
“This is a really difficult situation but it’s necessary. We have to contain this virus. We are monitoring this every hour,” Australian Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty said.
They are infected with a different strain than the one experts here are concerned about, but we could see similar scenes if the strain affecting the U.S. were to make landfall here.
“This could have serious implications for our poultry industry and biodiversity,” van Andel said.
It will trigger a full-scale response to prevent both.
“We are working with the Fish and Wildlife Service to sample mallards and are increasing surveillance capacity in the sub-Antarctic islands by providing testing kits to our colleagues at DOC.”
New Zealanders are being advised not to touch any dead birds (a flock is considered to be three or more birds) and to call the Exotic Pest and Disease Hotline on 0800 80 99 66.
