澳大利亚确认麦夸里岛首例H5N1禽流感 象海豹样本检出病毒
澳大利亚10月17日确认，亚南极麦夸里岛出现首例H5N1高致病性禽流感，官方检测在一头象海豹与一只黑背鸥的样本中检出该病毒株。澳大利亚首席兽医官贝丝·库克森说，这标志着该岛首次出现H5禽流感事件。
麦夸里岛是联合国教科文组织世界遗产地，位于澳大利亚塔斯马尼亚州与南极洲之间的南大洋中点，是南方象海豹的重要繁殖地。联邦政府表示，象海豹对H5禽流感特别易感，部分情况下幼崽死亡率超过90%。
澳大利亚今年6月成为最后一个报告禽流感的大洲；该病毒2025年底曾在其另一亚南极领地赫德岛检出，当地媒体称超过1.3万只幼海豹死亡。今年8月，澳大利亚环境部已宣布因疫情对科考人员的心理社会风险，撤出麦夸里岛科考站人员。（GSM 据路透社报道）
Australia Confirms First H5N1 Bird Flu Case on Sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island
Australia on Saturday, October 17, confirmed its first case of H5N1 bird flu on the sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island, with the virus found in the remote territory's elephant seal population. Chief Veterinary Officer Beth Cookson said official testing confirmed the highly pathogenic strain "in samples collected from an elephant seal and a kelp gull on Macquarie Island, marking the first H5 event on this island."
Macquarie Island, a UNESCO World Heritage-listed territory in the Southern Ocean halfway between Tasmania and Antarctica, is a key breeding ground for southern elephant seals. The mammals, which can weigh up to 3,600 kg, are particularly susceptible to H5 bird flu, with pup mortality rates in some cases above 90 percent, according to the federal government.
Australia in June became the last continent to report bird flu; the virus was detected in late 2025 on Heard Island, another sub-Antarctic territory, where local media said more than 13,000 baby seals were killed. In August, the environment department withdrew personnel from the Macquarie Island research station over the psycho-social risk of a potential outbreak. (GSM, based on Reuters reporting)
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：南大洋象海豹。Southern elephant seals. Photo by Brocken Inaglory, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
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