Poultry farmers in South Africa are worried. All their chicken farming could go out the window. The animals are struck by an avian epizootic, described as “ the worst » never known in the country.
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Quantum Foods, one of the heavyweights in the market, deplores losses in its farms of up to 5.3 million dollars (4.9 million euros), or two million chickens dead due to the virus. Previously, Astral, the largest producer of chickens, had announced the shortage of eggs.
According to experts, this is the worst outbreak of bird flu the country has ever seen. The first cases appeared on commercial farms in April. The virus first affected eggs. Now, it is expected that the supply of poultry meat will also be affected.
South Africa is one of the poultry market leaders on the continent. The first cases of bird flu on commercial farms appeared this year in April, according to the South African Poultry Association. According to the organization, breeders are faced with two strains of the virus, H5N1 and H7N6. The latter spreads at an alarming speed » particularly in the most populous province bringing together Pretoria and the economic capital Johannesburg, according to Astral.
Across the world, bird flu is increasingly affecting animals ranging from foxes with sea lion. This makes the World Health Organization (WHO) fear that the virus will adapt to contaminate humans more easily.
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