A suspected case of a deadly and contagious H5 bird flu strain has been found on the Australian mainland for the first time, the federal government has warned.

People have been told to avoid touching sick or dead birds following testing on a brown skua found drowning at remote Cape Le Grand Beach in Esperance, on the south coast WA, on Sunday.

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“(That) the member of the public was able to catch it was an indication the bird wasn’t well,” Esperance Wildlife Hospital and Sanctuary director Lori-Ann Shibish told 7NEWS.

The sub-Antarctic bird was taken into care and isolated, but has since died.

Preliminary testing by WA’s DPIRD diagnostic laboratory returned a positive result for avian influenza late on Thursday.

Samples have been sent to the CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness in Geelong to determine the strain, with that to be confirmed on Saturday.

“If it is confirmed to be the H5 bird flu, this will be sobering but not unexpected given the spread globally,” Federal Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said.

Second bird sent for testing

WA authorities are also waiting on results from testing of a sick giant petrel, another sub-Antarctic bird, found in the same area as the skua about the same time.

“In recent years, H5 bird flu has spread fast around the world, causing severe disease and high death rates in poultry, wild birds and affected mammals,” WA Agriculture and Food Minister Jackie Jarvis said.

“We are taking the suspected case of H5 bird flu seriously and there are well established national response arrangements in place to respond.

“If this is confirmed … there will be a rapid and coordinated national response in partnership with the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.”

Collins said the government had called together state, territory and industry experts and she will fly to Canberra on Friday for further briefings.

WA’s chief veterinary officer Michelle Rodan said the initial response phase will be about checking for additional cases.

“The first step really is to work out whether it has spread anywhere, because there is a possibility that these birds have come in and that it actually hasn’t spread anywhere,” Rodan said.

“We will be doing surveillance across the coast of Australia, not just (WA), to make sure that there’s no other detections across Australia.

Rodan said the poultry industry already has safety measures in place, including the management of water and feed that birds have access to.

“Obviously our free-range industry has trouble with that and hence the possibility of putting housing orders and things in place to allow them to do that,” she said.

“A lot of our primary focus is on the poultry industry to make sure they can protect the poultry sector in Western Australia and in Australia.”

Mainland Australia is the only continent that has remained free from H5 bird flu, which has devastated poultry and even mammal populations around the world.

But it has been detected on Australian soil — with thousands of baby seals dying on Heard Island, 4000km southwest of Perth.

Nearly 80 per cent of the southern elephant seal pup population on the sub-Antarctic external territory has been wiped out by the flu, according to research published this week.

“If H5 bird flu reaches Australia it could significantly impact wildlife, threatened species and agricultural industries,” Collins and Environment Minister Murray Watt said in a joint statement this week after the federal government announced an extra $11.2 million to prepare “our most at-risk native species” for a potential H5 outbreak.

‘Need to take this seriously’

Burnet Institute associate professor Suman Majumdar said the potential case is “something we need to take seriously” but that Australia had been preparing for a situation like this.

“The priority now is to confirm exactly what has been detected, activate preparedness plans, maintain strong surveillance, and provide clear advice to the public,” Majumdar said.

“For most people, the risk remains low. Human infections are rare and usually linked to close contact with infected birds, animals or contaminated environments.

“The simple message is: don’t touch sick or dead birds or animals. Keep your distance, record where you saw them, take a photo only if it is safe to do so, and report it through official channels.”

Members of the community that see sick birds or marine mammals should report it to the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline on 1800 675 888.