Australia escapes H5N1–officially

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2004:

MELBOURNE–Australia has avoided H5N1 and other avian flu
outbreaks, so far, but has had some recent scares.
“Our rescue team did a big broiler chicken rescue in
January,” Patty Mark of Animal Liberation Victoria told ANIMAL
PEOPLE. “We got 55 birds out,” 40 of them later euthanized due to
illness and injury, “and there were masses of dead bodies in the
shed,” Mark recounted. “All the dead birds we witnessed were
unusual. We thought this guy was just a bad operator and failed to
collect them daily, as some were very rotten. One TV station
grabbed an exclusive on the story,” Mark said, “then sat on it for
two weeks when avian flu hit [in Southeast Asia] and then dropped it.”
Most of the Animal Liberation Victoria rescuers were older
than typical H5N1 victims, who tend to be under 20.
However, said Mark, “Seven out of nine of us on that rescue
had the usual sore throat, sinus problems, and sore eyes
afterward,” from the filthy air they breathe inside poultry barns.