South Africa must learn to live with avian flu

The South African ostrich industry 'will have to learn to live with Avian Influenza', according to Dr Richard Burroughs, chief state veterinarian with the National Department of Agriculture in Pretoria. 'We're dealing with an infectious disease. We don't know where it comes from, and we don't know when it will appear again. The ostrich industry, and others, have made, or will have to make, their own contingency plans to deal with it as and when it arises.' He said the merits of changes to international rules regarding the outbreak of animal diseases - to make them more flexible - were 'debatable'. 'The AI we've seen here, and the AI they've seen overseas, are very different, but viruses can mutate.' He said there was currently no debate on changing the rules. The ostrich industry's contingency plans, set up in the wake of the 2004 outbreak, appear to have weathered their first test, when birds on a farm near Mossel Bay in the Western Cape Province tested positive for antibodies to the H5N2 strain of AI. H5N2 was the same strain that affected the Eastern Cape previously, but this virus 'was not identical' to the earlier strain. Following the positive test, the SA Ostrich Business Chamber (SAOBC) was able to provide all backward and forward tracing records, which limited an EU ban on ostrich meat imports to farms from just two districts - Mossel Bay and Riversdale. The SAOBC has taken on a vast new role - capturing and coordinating monthly data on all ostrich movements in the country, with records of each individual bird. There are about 60,000 breeding birds and around 260,000 slaughter birds in the country. 'All role players - hatcheries, chick farms, feedlots, abattoirs, and the transport companies they use - submit monthly reports to us', said SAOBC manager Anton Kruger. 'Previously, only export farms had to be registered with us. Now anyone involved in ostrich production - even the farmer who buys a few birds, then sells them on - has to be registered and submit reports.' In addition, the provincial departments of agriculture conduct routine testing on a sample of the national ostrich flock every six months. Because they don't have sufficient personnel, the SAOBC hires extra personnel, accredited to the departments. The latest 'outbreak' (there were no clinical symptoms) was picked up in a routine test. The new system comes at a price. Aside from the cost of processing the reports and paying extra testing staff, the SAOBC pays for laboratory testing at the veterinary institute at Onderstepoort, and it has had to invest in equipment. Kruger said direct costs were about R500,000/year. 'If you weigh that against the value of ostrich product exports - over R1.3 billion - it's worth it', he said. Leather exports are worth around R800 million and meat R550 million. Ostrich feathers have been growing in value, too. Production of feather dusters, all made in Oudtshoorn, has risen from 100,000 in 2004 to 1 million, most for export. Kruger said the automotive industry was increasingly using ostrich feathers in its paint shops. Curios account for a relatively small percentage of income. Kruger said the measures were 'a good example of a private sector/government partnership', and that government was recommending the ostrich industry's example to other agricultural sectors. One outcome of the regulations has been the change in status of the SAOBC. Where previously it was primarily a marketing organisation, 'we've become involved in practical applications', Kruger said.