A new bird flu strain is heading towards South Africa, adding to the risks facing the local poultry industry.
The H9 strain of avian influenza has been moving south through Africa and has reached Mozambique, from where it is expected to spread. This comes in the wake of the H5 and H7 strains which devastated the South African poultry industry in 2023.
While H9 is supposedly less virulent than the H5 and H7 strains which killed millions of chickens, it can be deadly. H9N2 “has been associated with serious production losses in commercial laying hens and increased mortality in broiler flocks,” says latest quarterly bird flu report from the SA Poultry Association (SAPA).
This is despite the fact that H9N2 is officially a low-pathogenicity avian influenza (LPAI) strain, meaning it results in milder symptoms and fewer deaths. The H5 and H7 strains are both highly pathogenic (HPAI) viruses.
One case of H9 infection was reported in Mozambique’s Maputo province in August, and there have so far been no reports of further outbreaks.
“It is concerning that a case of H9 avian influenza has been detected so close to South Africa and means that outbreaks in South Africa are likely in the foreseeable future. H9 avian influenza is well established across North Africa and the Middle East and there have been rumours of cases in various eastern and southern African countries,” the report said.
While vaccines against the H9 strain can be developed “there is a good chance that there will be a period between the arrival of H9 LPAI and the registration of the first vaccines during which the industry will be at serious risk from the disease,” SAPA stated.
