Fri 26 JunFriday 26 June
The detection of Australia’s first H5 bird flu cases means the deadly virus has now spread to every continent on the planet.
This form of avian influenza is a high-pathogenicity strain first discovered more than 20 years ago.
Since then, it has decimated wildlife and poultry farms worldwide.
A German poultry farm quarantined due to the H5 virus. (Reuters: Fabrizio Bensch)
Ivory Coast workers burn infected chicken to contain an outbreak. (Reuters: Luc Gnago)
There have been calls for calm as it hits our own shores, with Federal Agriculture Minister Julie Collins saying the virus’s spread to Australia was inevitable.
But to comprehend why others are labelling the detection a “potential catastrophe”, it is also worth zooming out.
Here are some of the key numbers that explain the gravity of the virus globally.
400
billion
— chickens culled
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100+
— species of mammals infected
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997
— cases of human infection
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478
— human deaths confirmed globally
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$US8
— for a dozen eggs
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