Egg rationing has been introduced in Coles stores throughout most of Australia
Australian consumers have been hit with purchase limits on eggs after massive culls on poultry farms in the Victoria region.
Popular store Coles introduced a limit on egg purchases in its stores. Consumers in Coles stores in every state except Western Australia will be able to buy a maximum of two cartons of eggs.
More than half a million birds have been culled on five farms in the southwest of Victoria after the H7N3 strain of bird flu was detected. This is a different strain from the H5N1 strain discovered on dairy farms in the US and the H5N2 strain which was supposedly responsible for the death of a Mexican man.
So far, Coles is the only Australian store to impose a limit on egg purchases, but it’s likely that others will follow suit, especially if other culls take place.
The US has imposed restrictions on all poultry products imported from Victoria.
On Friday 7 June, the World Health Organization claimed that a two-year-old Australian girl suffered a serious case of bird flu after visiting India in the spring with her family.
“This is the first confirmed human infection caused by avian influenza A (H5N1) virus detected and reported by Australia,” the WHO said in a statement.
Although the source of exposure is unknown, it’s believed she caught the virus in India, where she had been travelling with her family. The girl was travelling in Kolkata for two weeks in February, but she had no know exposure to any sick people or animals in the city.
After returning to Australia on 1 March, she was admitted to hospital the next day. On 4 March she was transferred to intensive care, as her symptoms worsened. She remained in hospital for two-and-a-half weeks.
The girl tested positive for influenza at the hospital, and the samples were sent for further analysis.
That revelation came in the wake of controversy about the supposed death of a man from bird flu in Mexico. The WHO reported last week that a 59-year-old man had died of bird flu, but the Mexican government died this, stating that the cause of death remained unknown, since the man was suffering multiple serious health conditions.
Amid widening fears about a possible bird-flu pandemic, countries around the world are stockpiling vaccines.
The US government is also poised to invest millions of dollars in the development of new vaccines to combat the virus. The US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) is set to reach an agreement with Moderna to fund human trials for its experimental mRNA bird-flu vaccine. As part of the deal, the US government would commit to stockpiling millions of the vaccines if the human trials are successful.
Three human cases of bird flu have been reported in the US so far, all in dairy workers. None have reported serious symptoms and all have been treated with antiviral medication.
There have been no known cases of human-to-human transmission yet.
