Australia has hit a sorrowful milestone in its fight against high pathogenicity avian influenza. This week, the country’s first outbreak of mass mortality due to the H5N1 bird flu virus was recorded when scores of female crested terns were seen dead or moribund along rocky outcrops off south-eastern South Australia A flock of Baudin Rocks near Cape Jaffa, around 250km south of Adelaide, was identified by helicopter on Friday. Tests by CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness later found signs
