September 10, 2004

South Africa Expands Bird Flu Culling

South Africa has widened the slaughter of ostriches to include the culling of chickens. This move follows an outbreak of bird flu in five farms last month, an official said Thursday.

"This week, we started culling ostriches in two new farms which had a link with the five other affected farms. There was contact in either sharing workers or exchanging birds with them," agriculture ministry spokesperson Segaoti Mahlangu said.

"We've also been destroying poultry in the area as chickens are susceptible hosts of the virus," he said. "Until now some backyard chickens have been killed. But in the coming days, more than 1000 chickens will be killed in the two new farms."

Tests conducted in the first week of August found traces of the mild strain of avian influenza, H5N2, on two farms in the Eastern Cape province. The agriculture ministry has said it is not harmful to humans.

A total of seven farms have been identified as affected by the outbreak.

The official said that over 13,500 ostriches have been culled so far, and 2,237 more will be slaughtered in the two new farms.

"We hope to finish the culling process by the end of this week," he said.

Ostrich farmers have warned that the slaughter as well as an export ban on all poultry meat and products could cost the world's largest exporter of ostrich meat dearly.

The outbreak prompted the European Union, Switzerland and several neighbouring countries to ban imports of ostrich meat from South Africa.

A more virulent strain of bird flu, H5N1, hit Asia this year, killing 24 people and leading to the deaths or culling of almost 200 million birds.