Cape Town - The Provincial Department of Agriculture has confirmed that the first case of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H7N6 has been detected in the Western Cape.
In a statement released on Friday, MEC Ivan Meyer said the first case of H7N6 was positively identified in George. Cases of H7N6 HPAI have also been detected in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Free State and Limpopo.
The country is battling two strains of highly pathogenic avian influenza – H5N1 and H7N6 – and resultant outbreaks across provinces. The HPAI affects poultry and wild birds, and in South Africa millions of birds and chickens have been culled to contain the spread of the virus.
The Western Cape saw seven outbreaks of the H5N1 HPAI virus from April to June, with Meyer stating that this was still a threat from wild birds. In the past three months, the province has not experienced any further outbreaks in the commercial poultry industry and that all the outbreaks between April and June had been resolved.
“It is very unfortunate and a blow to the Western Cape poultry industry that the first case of H7 High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI) was diagnosed on Thursday in the George area of the Western Cape. This follows the introduction of chickens from an infected province in the north.
“The George farm has been quarantined and culling on the farm has already started.”
Meyer urged poultry owners in the province to strengthen biosecurity measures and to be extremely cautious around bringing any new chickens or allowing visitors or vehicles into poultry farms.
“Moving chickens from infected provinces should be avoided at all costs as this has a severe impact on the entire Western Cape Province if more cases of H7 HPAI are detected.”
The virus can be found in the faeces of infected birds and discharges from their noses, mouth, and eyes. Domestic birds can be infected faecal contamination from wild birds or through direct contact with infected poultry on other premises.
On Friday, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) reiterated that there was a low risk of human infection related to the outbreaks.
The NICD said sporadic cases of H5N1 infection have been reported in humans related to outbreaks in birds but that infection in humans remain very rare. Despite large outbreaks in poultry and wild birds across the world, only eight cases globally of H5N1 in humans have been reported to the World Health Organisation in 2023.
The cases were linked to close contact with infected birds in the form of handling, culling, slaughtering or processing.
The NICD said poultry products, including commercially available eggs and fresh and frozen chickens, were safe for consumption.