WHMI 93.5 FM Radio Station -- Livingston County Michigan

Australia confirmed its first H5N1 bird flu case in a seabird, signaling the virus has reached every continent. The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry said the infection was detected in a single brown skua near Esperance on Australia’s south coast, within Cape Le Grand National Park. Officials said they were “responding” under a nationally coordinated plan with Western Australia stakeholders to limit disease impact. The detection followed severe outbreaks in the U.S. that killed millions of birds and led to egg-related shortages. By Saturday, further testing matched a strain previously found in Heard Island and McDonald Islands. Western Australia’s minister said no detections in poultry and no evidence of mass mortality were found, while a second migratory-bird case is suspected near Esperance.