H5 bird flu detected in second Australia state

A Pacific Gull walks on a local beach in Esperance, a town on the south coast of Western Australia. Two H5 bird flu cases have been confirmed in migratory birds found in the state of Western Australia, and officials are now warning of a third infection found hundreds of kilometres away in South Australia.

SYDNEY - Scientists have detected the highly contagious H5 bird flu strain in a second Australian state, the nation's agriculture minister said on Wednesday.

Australia was for years the only continental landmass to be free of the H5 strain, which has caused severe disease and high death rates in poultry and wild birds worldwide.