BIRD FLU
US poultry boss advises on fightback
USA Poultry and Egg Export Council president Jim Sumner was in SA last week to meet sub-Saharan African government officials on poultry best practice and managing avian influenza. The US egg industry, excluding broiler chickens, lost more than $4bn during bird flu outbreaks in 2014 and 2015. "It decimated our industry," Sumner says. Outbreaks of the highly pathogenic H5N8 strain of the virus have been hammering SA’s poultry industry for the past few months. Outbreaks had earlier been identified in Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Western Cape is the latest province to be hit. It has confirmed 26 cases of the H5N8 strain. "We are continuing to work with the private sector to mitigate the impact of the disease. By the end of [last] week, we estimate that around 2-million chickens and ducks would have been culled," says Alan Winde, Western Cape economic opportunities MEC. Anton Bredell, Western Cape local government, environmental affairs and development planning MEC,...
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