Is Australia protected from H5N1?

Via the Australian Broadcasting Company: Invisible line 'protects Australia from bird flu.' Excerpt:

Australia's best defence against an outbreak of avian influenza is an invisible line passing through the Indonesian archipelago between Bali and Lombok that birds are reluctant to cross, a team of zoologists says.

In the latest Ecology and Society journal, the Australian researchers say the so-called Wallace Line, which forms a distinct boundary between the Asiatic and Australian faunal realms, has to date protected Australia from the most recent bird flu outbreak.

The finding is part of an analysis the team undertook to determine the risk of highly pathogenic avian influenza epizootics, in particular the deadly H5N1, entering Australia through bird migration in the north.

However the five authors say the relative isolation of Australia cannot be assumed to be a complete barrier against the arrival of the deadly H5N1 strain that has claimed 245 human lives worldwide.

The team highlights West Papua, which lies on the Australian side of the Wallace Line, where H5N1 was found to be responsible for the deaths of 93 chickens in three villages in July 2006 as a possible pathway for the disease to reach Australia.

The Wallace in question is Alfred Russel Wallace, whose exploration of Indonesia inspired him to an independent concept of evolution. Without him, Charles Darwin might never have got round to publishing On the Origin of Species.