H7N7 Bird Flu Virus Found on South African Ostrich Farm
SOUTH AFRICA - One ostrich from a commercial flock of 1,000 birds was found to have the low-pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) virus in October 2013.
The South African veterinary authority sent Follow up Report No. 2 dated 23 December to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).
It describes the finding of the H7N7 subtype of the LPAI virus in a single bird in a commercial flock of 1,005 ostriches on a farm at Oudtshoorn in Western Cape Province in early October.
This was the 10th farm to have reported this virus sub-type but the first since the end of May 2013.
The source of infection remains unknown or inconclusive.
