Bird flu fears spreading

2004-08-10 07:38

Enrico Claassen and Vera Schoeman

Somerset East - There are fears that avian flu (also known as bird flu) could be reported elsewhere in the country after allegations that a number of ostriches were already contaminated when they arrived in the Somerset East area.

Reliable sources claimed that the first ostriches that died in Middleton already had the virus when they arrived from elsewhere in the country.

Segoati Mahlangu for the agriculture department did not want to comment on Monday.

He said: "We are leaving it to the investigation to determine where the ostriches contracted the disease."

Onderstepoort senior veterinarian Dr Johan van Wyk said he was convinced the disease was limited to the Eastern Cape.

He said a team of experts would be scanning the country for other signs of avian flu, not only for their own database, but also to put the international industry at ease.

Mahlangu confirmed that no chickens have shown signs of the flu virus yet.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza will be visiting farmers in the Somerset East district on Tuesday.

Anton Kruger of the Ostrich Chamber of Business said a decision was taken at a meeting on Monday to sedate about 30 000 ostriches on Tuesday before shooting them with a pen pistol.

Kruger said legislation governing the ostrich industry prescribed this method of culling.

The birds would not have their throats cut because the blood is highly contagious.

The agriculture department decided on Friday to put down and bury all poultry in the quarantine area, which covers an area within a 30km radius of the infected farms.

Kruger said the industry would suffer a loss of R100m if a 30-day export ban on poultry was enforced.

He said about 20 000 jobs could be affected.

Sid Birch, owner of the farms Voorspoed and Endor, said between 5 000 and 6 000 of his ostriches would be put down on Tuesday.

Birch said more than 200 ostriches had died on his farm since Saturday.

"They are dying by the minute. It is terrible to witness their suffering, especially the breeding birds, which have been with us for a long time and which we have grown attached to.

"Their eyes swell up, they have a terrible cough and eventually drown in the mucus in their lungs," he said.

The avian flu that has been causing havoc in the Somerset East area is the H5N2 virus, which is regarded as less dangerous than the H5N1 virus that has claimed the lives of a number of people in Asia. The H5N2 virus is not considered fatal to humans.

Meanwhile, Singapore decided at the weekend to ban the import of all poultry meat from South Africa.

"To prevent the virus from entering Singapore, we have to place a temporary ban on the import of poultry meat from South Africa," said the Food and Veterinary Authority (FVA).

The FVA said Singapore was free of avian flu.

Singapore imported 3.8 tons of frozen ostrich meat from South Africa last year.

Since the beginning of the year, Singapore has imported more than 3 000 ostriches from South Africa.

- Die Burger