Skip to main content Skip to main navigation Skip to search
Home

Top navigation main

  • News & media
  • Jobs
  • Ministers
  • Contact us
Main menu

AWE Main

  • Agriculture and land
    Agriculture and land Building stronger and more sustainable agriculture, fisheries, forestry and land care.
    • Animal health
    • Climate change and agriculture
    • Drought, disaster and rural support
    • Farming, food and drought
    • Fisheries
    • Forestry
    • Levies and charges on agricultural products
    • Mouse infestation advice
    • Plant health
    Xylella

    Protect against unwanted plant pests

    Our biosecurity system helps protects us. Everyone has a role in supporting our biosecurity system.

    Find out more

  • Biosecurity and trade
    Biosecurity and trade
    • Aircraft, vessels and military
    • Biosecurity policy
    • Cats and dogs
    • Exporting
    • Importing
    • Pests, diseases and weeds
    • Public awareness and education
    • Trade and market access
    • Travelling or sending goods to Australia
    • Report a concern
    Brown marmorated stink bug

    BMSB Seasonal Measures

    Australia has strengthened seasonal measures to manage the risk of BMSB.

    View our seasonal measures

  • Science and research
    Science and research Undertaking research and collecting data to support informed decisions and policies.
    • Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES)
    • Plant Innovation Centre
    Abares

    ABARES Insights

    Get 'snapshots’ of agricultural, forestry and fisheries industries, or analysis of key issues.

    Find out more

  • About us
    About us We enhance our agricultural industries and trade, and manage the threat of biosecurity risks to Australia.
    • Accountability and reporting
    • Assistance, grants and tenders
    • Contact us
    • Fees and charges
    • News and media
    • Our commitment to you
    • Payments
    • People and jobs
    • Publications
    • What we do
    • Who we are
    Budget 2025-26

    Budget 2025-26

    The 2025–26 Portfolio Budget Statements were released on 25 March 2025.

    Find out more

  • Online services
    Online services We do business with you using online platforms. This makes it easier for you to meet your legal requirements.
Department of Agriculture

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. About us
  3. News and media
  4. Three Chiefs Newsletter
  5. Pest profile: Duck viral enteritis

Back to news - AWE

  • Back to news

Pest profile: Duck viral enteritis

  • Newsletter
  • Animals
  • Biosecurity
3 March 2025

Anatid herpesvirus-1

Duck viral enteritis (DVE), also known as duck plague, is one of Australia’s higher-risk exotic environmental diseases.

DVE is a contagious and often fatal infection that occurs in wild and domestic ducks, geese, swans and other waterfowl of the Anatidae family. It is not found in Australia, but it now occurs in most parts of the world.

Outbreaks of DVE can lead to high mortality in domestic and wild birds and is a concern for both poultry industries and wild bird populations. There is no known health risk to humans.

DVE is highly contagious and is spread when infected birds contaminate water sources with their droppings, exposing other waterbirds to the virus. It can also spread from infected females to their eggs.

Susceptible birds may show signs of DVE in 3 to 7 days after they are exposed. Infected birds become listless, lose their appetites, may have a bloody discharge from the bill and vent, show thirst and have watery diarrhea. Occasionally, other signs that are seen are swollen eyelids and drooping wings. Sometimes birds are found dead without any previous clinical signs.

As it leads to high mortality rates in wild and farmed poultry, an infection of DVE can have large economic impacts in farmed poultry and large environmental impacts in wild fowl birds. There is no treatment for DVE, once birds are infected.

To help keep Australia safe from diseases such as DVE, we have strict biosecurity laws about importing live animals and reproductive material.

DVE is a notifiable disease. If you suspect a bird has DVE:

  • Do not touch the bird
  • Take a photo (screenshot your map app or enable geotagging on your phone)
  • Report a pest or disease concern—contact your state or territory authority
  • Call the Emergency Animal Disease Watch Hotline: 1800 675 888.

More information:

Email: acebo@aff.gov.au 
Web: https://www.agriculture.gov.au/biosecurity-trade/policy/environmental/priority-list 

Image of 2 ducks, one in the foreground, one in the background

Read more articles from the Three-Chiefs Newsletter

  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Email
  • Copy link

Related

Image of a group of people sitting in a room, watching a presentation on a screen

Human Animal Spillover and Emerging Diseases Scanning (HASEDS) Group

  • Newsletter
  • Animals
06 March 2025
Image of a group of people standing around a tree, with one person demonstrating how to hang a flu trap - cut off image

Australia’s focus on regional work in animal and plant health

  • Newsletter
  • Plants
03 February 2025
Decorative

Statement from newly appointed Transition Advocate, Dr Chris Rodwell

  • Statement
  • Live animal exports
29 January 2025
Thanks for your feedback.
Thanks! Your feedback has been submitted.

We aren't able to respond to your individual comments or questions.
To contact us directly phone us or submit an online inquiry

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Please verify that you are not a robot.

Skip
Page last updated: 11 March 2025

We acknowledge the continuous connection of First Nations Traditional Owners and Custodians to the lands, seas and waters of Australia. We recognise their care for and cultivation of Country. We pay respect to Elders past and present, and recognise their knowledge and contribution to the productivity, innovation and sustainability of Australia’s agriculture, fisheries and forestry industries.

Artwork: Protecting our Country, Growing our Future
© Amy Allerton, contemporary Aboriginal Artist of the Gumbaynggirr, Bundjalung and Gamilaroi nations.

Footer

  • Contact us
  • Accessibility
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy
  • FOI

© Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

Facebook X LinkedIn Instagram