Bird flu spreads to seventh Australian poultry farm

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Highly pathogenic bird flu has spread to a seventh poultry farm near Melbourne, the government of the Australian state of Victoria said on Monday. Six of the properties have an H7N3 flu strain and a seventh has an H7N9 strain, he said. Neither is the H5N1 type of bird flu that has infected billions of wild and farmed animals around the world and raised fears of human transmission. “There are restricted and control areas around all infected premises,” Victoria’s agriculture department said in a statement. The infected properties include six egg farms and a duck farm. About 1 million chickens, about 5% of Australia's layer flock, have been or will be killed on affected farms to contain the virus, the government said last week. There has not yet been a shortage of eggs, although some retailers have set limits on purchases. Before the latest cases, the ...