15 July 2026

Testing at CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness has determined one additional presumed positive detection of H5 high pathogenicity avian influenza (bird flu) in a petrel, found at Lancelin Beach in Western Australia.

The sequencing of the virus could not be determined, but the Western Australian Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development is treating this case as a positive as a precautionary measure.

There have now been 14 confirmed or presumed positive detections of H5 bird flu in Australia.

All of these have been individual wild seabirds found in coastal locations. All but one have been wild migratory seabirds.

There?remains no evidence of any mass mortality events and there are no detections in poultry or in our agricultural production system.

The risk to human health remains low.