Wednesday, 28 June 2023
Byline: Carien Kruger
Highly contagious avian influenza has been confirmed on two egg farms near Delmas.
South African Poultry Association (SAPA) general manager Izaak Breitenbach says bird flu broke out among the commercial laying hens of a small-scale farmer and a commercial farmer near Delmas in the middle of this month. A total of 215,000 hens must now be culled.
So far this year, an outbreak in the Western Cape – in the West Coast and Cape Winelands municipalities, and in George – has forced the culling of 1.8 million chickens.
The Western Cape outbreak was caused by the H5 virus strain, but in Delmas it was caused by the H7 strain.
The disease is mainly transmitted by wild birds but producers implement strict biosecurity measures to prevent possible spread between farms.
Bird flu usually occurs in commercial flocks, especially among laying hens, as if affects older hens and broiler chickens are slaughtered at the young age of about six weeks. Bird flu can also break out in breeding flocks.
The disease has been present in South Africa since 2017, and the first outbreak resulted in egg shortages in the Western Cape which significantly increased prices.
The industry and the government are discussing the possible vaccination of certain flocks. In Europe, authorities and industries are working to implement vaccination programmes as soon as possible, but they are expensive and require extensive preparation and good monitoring.
Veterinarian Shahn Bisschop, a member of the SAPA’s working group on bird flu vaccination, said at the recent AVI Africa poultry conference that vaccination definitely cannot start in South Africa this year.
