South Africa battles lethal bird flu outbreak

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

South Africa battles lethal bird flu outbreak

12:21 CAT | 26 Sep 2023

In file CoM

The South African authorities are intensifying bio-security measures to control a severe avian influenza outbreak that has so far killed 2.6 million chickens across the country.

Five of the country’s nine provinces have been affected by the 50 HPAI H7 and 10 HPAI H5 subtypes of the virus, the department of agriculture said in a statement on Monday.

It added that the process of getting a vaccine had been fast-tracked because of the inherent risk of the disease spreading to humans.

“Due to the high probability of avian influenza virus mutating and becoming zoonotic, care needs to be taken on the quality and efficacy parameters of the vaccine chosen for use in this exercise,” the department added.

Gauteng province is hardest hit by the virulent HPAI H7 strain while the Western Cape is grappling with the majority of HPAI H5 outbreak.

Astral Foods, South Africa’s largest poultry producer, warned last week of a shortage of eggs and poultry meat in the coming months due to the bird flu outbreak and impact of power cuts on the poultry industry.

Poultry companies are facing losses following the outbreak of a highly pathogenic avian influenza

Gauteng Province is the hardest hit with regards to the HPAI H7 outbreaks

The number of H7 outbreaks in the provinces are as follows:

• Gauteng – 37
• Mpumalanga – 2
• Limpopo… pic.twitter.com/rRy2DQXkvQ

— News Live SA (@newslivesa) September 25, 2023