The first detection of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 in New Zealand marks an important milestone, but not an unexpected one.

Since the virus reached Australia last month, and as it continued its global spread, scientists and government agencies have been preparing for the possibility that it would eventually arrive here.

For now, this appears to be a single detection, but ongoing surveillance will be essential to determine whether additional cases emerge.

What Australia’s experience tells us

Australia provides an important indication of what New Zealand may face. H5N1 was detected in a brown skua in Western Australia less than four weeks ago. Further detections followed in Western Australia and South Australia, mainly in migratory seabirds, with a detection subsequently reported in New South Wales.

More recently, H5N1 was confirmed in a greater crested tern in South Australia, marking the first detection in a resident Australian seabird and therefore a possible indication of local transmission. So far, the Australian detections have involved individual seabirds rather than widespread wildlife mortality.

The virus has not been detected in poultry in Australia.

Susceptibility to infection and severe disease varies between species and individual incursions in solitary........

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