New case of avian flu found in Standerton
• Immediate slaughter of 25,000 birds required as second farm hit by highly contagious strain
A second case of a highly contagious form of avian flu was confirmed on a commercial chicken farm in Mpumalanga on Monday. This will require the slaughter of 25,000 birds in addition to the 24,000 culled on another farm in the province in the past week. South African Poultry Association CEO Kevin Lovell said all 280,000 birds on the Standerton farm would ultimately have to be culled.
A second case of a highly contagious form of avian flu was confirmed on a commercial chicken farm in Mpumalanga on Monday, which will require the immediate slaughter of 25,000 birds in addition to the 24,000 culled on another farm in the province in the past week.
South African Poultry Association CEO Kevin Lovell said all 280,000 birds on the Standerton farm would ultimately have to be culled, although the first step would be to slaughter the infected 25,000 birds housed separately.
Lovell said the value of the birds to be culled was not yet known. Producers were compensated for chickens killed on the government’s instruction, but this had not yet been discussed by those concerned.
The affected chickens were egg layers, which numbered about 25-million in SA, he said. This meant about 66,000 eggs a day would be affected, which was not significant in terms of the country’s 24-million daily egg supply.
Lovell reiterated that the flu strain was not harmful to humans. It had come into the country through migratory wild ducks from Europe. “The reason the disease came to SA was because of such high infection rates in Europe,” he said.
The association is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday to discuss the practical steps that have to be taken to protect SA’s poultry flock.
The avian flu outbreak is of great concern to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the industry, which has been struggling with cheap imported bone-in chicken portions from the EU.
The department is taking steps to control the spread of the disease, which was initially observed on a relatively small Mpumalanga broiler breeder farm on June 19.
Tests confirmed on June 22 that it was the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N8.
A general ban has been placed on the sale of live spent hens across the country and SA’s trading partners and the World Organisation of Animal Health have been informed of the outbreak.
The department has advised that meat from healthy poultry is safe for consumption as it undergoes strict inspection procedures at abattoirs.
“All provinces have been notified and are on high alert,” department spokeswoman Bomikazi Molapo said.
The flu outbreak follows one in Zimbabwe earlier in June, which led SA and Botswana to suspend all poultry imports from that country, where about 150,000 birds were culled.
Lovell said the Zimbabwean and South African outbreaks had been introduced by longrange migratory wild birds from Europe, where there had been a spate of avian flu outbreaks.
Molapo said the affected farms had been quarantined and the department was investigating the source of the disease. It had also established a 30km control zone around the infected farms and all farms within the zone were being inspected. Poultry and poultry products may only move from farms within this radius with a state veterinary permit.
SA’s trading partners have been notified because they require a declaration that the country is free of the highly pathogenic avian influenza for trade in fresh poultry meat and unprocessed poultry products.
Exports of processed poultry products, live chickens and fresh products from registered poultry compartments will continue, depending on the requirements of the importing countries.
THE DEPARTMENT HAS ADVISED THAT MEAT FROM HEALTHY POULTRY IS SAFE FOR CONSUMPTION