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South Africa - which has been dealing with it's first ever incursion of HPAI H5N8 for the past 6 weeks - notified the OIE of two more poultry outbreaks today. This brings to 13 the number of outbreaks, 9 of which are in poultry holdings, and 4 in wild birds.
To address this growing crisis, last week the FAO along with the SADC (Southern Africa Development Council), local governments, and stakeholders held a 3-day emergency meeting this week in South Africa to `assess the preparedness, response capacities and actions of member states to the recent outbreaks of HPAI in the sub region.'
Last Thursday the FAO released a Statement On HPAI H5N8 In Southern Africa, calling for a coordinated effort to combat this avian threat.While it is too soon to know whether H5N8 will become a yearly fixture in the Southern Hemisphere, interior and southern Africa lie strategically under the intersection of 3 major global migratory flyways (see map below), meaning that this HPAI virus could find even more directions in which to spread in the months to come.
