South Africa to ramp up vaccinations as foot-and-mouth disease spreads
SOUTH Africa is building up vaccine stocks and expanding inoculations to fight a worsening foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, the agriculture ministry said, as the country faces threats to beef supplies.
Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious, viral infection of cloven-hoofed animals that may also affect other species. Flare-ups have been reported over the past several months in five of South Africa's nine provinces, with KwaZulu- Natal being the worst affected.
This week, Karan Beef, which operates the country's largest feedlot and one of the world's biggest, reported an outbreak at its facility in Heidelberg, about 50 kilometres southeast of Johannesburg. The quarantine imposed on the feedlot, which slaughters about 2,000 cattle daily, could impact beef supplies.
The government has ordered over 900,000 doses of foot-and-mouth disease vaccines with the first batch expected to arrive next week, the agriculture ministry said in a statement late on Thursday.
'These plans are not only about responding to outbreaks, but also about building permanent infrastructure to manage future risks,' it said.
There are growing calls by some cattle producers to declare a 'state of disaster' and protect the industry from financial losses. Invoking disaster law gives the government additional powers to intervene in a crisis.
The foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks have resulted in South African beef and related products being banned in markets such as China, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
South Africa's livestock sector is also recovering from its worst avian flu outbreak, which destroyed a third of the national chicken flock in 2023.
On Thursday, the government announced the first ever mass vaccination of poultry to prevent a repeat outbreak of high-pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), a bird flu that spreads rapidly in an infected flock, causing a high death rate.
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The Sun
a day ago
- The Sun
South Africa to ramp up vaccinations as foot-and-mouth disease spreads
SOUTH Africa is building up vaccine stocks and expanding inoculations to fight a worsening foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, the agriculture ministry said, as the country faces threats to beef supplies. Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious, viral infection of cloven-hoofed animals that may also affect other species. Flare-ups have been reported over the past several months in five of South Africa's nine provinces, with KwaZulu- Natal being the worst affected. This week, Karan Beef, which operates the country's largest feedlot and one of the world's biggest, reported an outbreak at its facility in Heidelberg, about 50 kilometres southeast of Johannesburg. The quarantine imposed on the feedlot, which slaughters about 2,000 cattle daily, could impact beef supplies. The government has ordered over 900,000 doses of foot-and-mouth disease vaccines with the first batch expected to arrive next week, the agriculture ministry said in a statement late on Thursday. 'These plans are not only about responding to outbreaks, but also about building permanent infrastructure to manage future risks,' it said. There are growing calls by some cattle producers to declare a 'state of disaster' and protect the industry from financial losses. Invoking disaster law gives the government additional powers to intervene in a crisis. The foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks have resulted in South African beef and related products being banned in markets such as China, Namibia and Zimbabwe. South Africa's livestock sector is also recovering from its worst avian flu outbreak, which destroyed a third of the national chicken flock in 2023. On Thursday, the government announced the first ever mass vaccination of poultry to prevent a repeat outbreak of high-pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), a bird flu that spreads rapidly in an infected flock, causing a high death rate.
The Sun
a day ago
- The Sun
South Africa expands vaccine drive amid FMD outbreak
SOUTH Africa is building up vaccine stocks and expanding inoculations to fight a worsening foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, the agriculture ministry said, as the country faces threats to beef supplies. Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious, viral infection of cloven-hoofed animals that may also affect other species. Flare-ups have been reported over the past several months in five of South Africa's nine provinces, with KwaZulu- Natal being the worst affected. This week, Karan Beef, which operates the country's largest feedlot and one of the world's biggest, reported an outbreak at its facility in Heidelberg, about 50 kilometres southeast of Johannesburg. The quarantine imposed on the feedlot, which slaughters about 2,000 cattle daily, could impact beef supplies. The government has ordered over 900,000 doses of foot-and-mouth disease vaccines with the first batch expected to arrive next week, the agriculture ministry said in a statement late on Thursday. 'These plans are not only about responding to outbreaks, but also about building permanent infrastructure to manage future risks,' it said. There are growing calls by some cattle producers to declare a 'state of disaster' and protect the industry from financial losses. Invoking disaster law gives the government additional powers to intervene in a crisis. The foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks have resulted in South African beef and related products being banned in markets such as China, Namibia and Zimbabwe. South Africa's livestock sector is also recovering from its worst avian flu outbreak, which destroyed a third of the national chicken flock in 2023. On Thursday, the government announced the first ever mass vaccination of poultry to prevent a repeat outbreak of high-pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), a bird flu that spreads rapidly in an infected flock, causing a high death rate.
The Star
17-05-2025
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China and EU suspend Brazil chicken imports over bird flu issues
RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP): China and the European Union have suspended imports of chicken meat from Brazil, the world's biggest exporter of the commodity, after an outbreak of bird flu on a farm in the South American country, officials said Friday. China is the main importer of Brazilian chicken, with 562,000 tons in 2024, or more than 10 percent of the total, according to Brazil's ABPA meat association. The EU, for its part, imported more than 231,000 tons of chicken last year, totaling 4.5 percent of Brazil's exports of the meat. "To respect the agreements made with China and the European Union, exports are restricted" from Brazil as a whole -- in China's case for 60 days, Brazil's agriculture ministry said in a statement. An outbreak of a new strain of "highly pathogenic avian influenza" (HPAI) has been confirmed on a farm in Montenegro in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, the ministry said. While China and the EU suspended imports from Brazil as a whole, other countries may place restrictions on the affected region only. The ministry said the virus could not be transmitted to humans "by the consumption of poultry meat or eggs." Infections in humans can cause severe disease with a high mortality rate, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). It says human cases detected so far are mostly linked to people who had close contact with infected birds and other animals, or contaminated environments. The virus does not appear to move easily from person to person, according to the WHO. Brazil says containment and eradication measures have been put in place. The H5N1 bird flu was first detected in 1996 in China, but since 2020, the number of outbreaks among birds has surged, and an increasing number of mammal species has been affected. In the United States this year, tens of millions of laying chickens have been culled, resulting in an egg shortage. A three-year-old girl last month became Mexico's first human fatality from H5N1. - AFP
