Newly arrived H5N1 bird flu likely to take hold in New Zealand, MPI says

The newly arrived strain of H5N1 bird flu is likely to become endemic in New Zealand and could happen within a matter of months, MPI's chief veterinary officer says.

A seabird found on Wellington's Petone beach has tested positive for the potentially deadly H5 strain of the virus.

It's the first case recorded in New Zealand, following a global outbreak.

Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard said New Zealand was well prepared to respond, and government agencies had been working with industry and councils to protect poultry production, wildlife and communities.

MPI's chief veterinary officer Mary van Andel told Morning Report, it wasn't a disease that could be eradicated in New Zealand if it established in our wildlife.

"We're talking about a viral disease in birds, and birds that move between places that we know are infected like Antarctica, it does seem as if it would be likely that would spill over."

While she did not know for sure, if it would become endemic in New Zealand, van Andel said that is what had happened everywhere else in the world.

"There is some interesting science about detections in sea birds in sub antarctic islands where it took a few months before bigger impacts on the populations on the islands were seen, but that's all speculation."

She said the most likely scenario was that we would see infected native birds.

"Internationally populations of wild birds have been impacted significantly but were able to bounce back and recover."

Massey University infectious disease epidemiology professor Nigel French said there may be little that could be done for some wildlife.

"If it were to get into some of the small endangered populations, particularly of seabirds like the fairy tern - there's a very few of those in New Zealand - then it could result in an extinction of those particular species."

The Department of Conservation (DOC) had begun vaccinating 300 core breeding birds from five of the country's most endangered birds - kākāpō, takahē, tchūriwat'/tūturuatu/shore plover, kakī/black stilt and kākāriki karaka/orange-fronted parakeet.

Animals like sealions were also at risk, French said, pointing to examples overseas where 90 percent of some populations had died.

"Good surveillance, good biosecurity will help contain it," he said.

"But there may be very little we could do, for example, to protect non-contained wildlife populations. So we just have to hope that many of them will not succumb in the same way that some of these populations have overseas."

French said H5 bird flu was different to other infectious diseases of animals like foot and mouth, which only affected cloven hoofed animals.

"This is something that affects multiple different species of wild animals and domesticated animals as well," he said.

"So it's difficult to put measures in place that completely protect you against it."

DOC biosecurity technical advisor Suliana Teasdale said the department did not know what would happen if the disease spread here, compared to the impact on overseas wildlife.

"We have quite unique fauna, and marine mammals and birds, so it could be quite different, but we're just being prepared," she said.

That included the vaccination plan and boosted biosecurity protocols.

It was possible for the virus to spill over from birds to humans, van Andel said, but the cases were rare.

"It's often when contamination is high like a large density of animals all packed in together."

She said there were guides on protective clothing for people in those situations.

There was no risk to food safety, she said and chicken and eggs remained safe to eat.

Tough lessons learnt from previous strain

New Zealand's largest egg supplier told Morning Report, it had learnt tough lessons that would help with the arrival of the new strain after euthanising 200 birds in 2024 after the first recorded case of H7N6, a different strain of avian flu.

Mainland Poultry CEO John McKay told said the company's experience was a painful lesson.

But he said it left the industry and the government better prepared for what it was now facing.

"We've been working closely with MPI for a period of years now for biosecurity plans for the arrival of this virus so we've had the benefit of time versus other countries."

He said a learning that came from the response to H7N6 was that trust between the regulator and the industry was needed so you could move quickly.

"We're jointly working on this readiness and response plans, but look, it's tough on farmers, one of the things we learnt in Otago is our farmers are with their birds everyday, they love their animals, so when it hits it's tough.

"At this stage we're dealing with a single bird on a beach in Wellington so it hasn't spread to other birds, certainly hasn't gotten to poultry, but it's a wake up call. We're concerned about it, but we're also pragmatic. We're well prepared and so we have to monitor it very closely now and make sure we stay very well prepared."