Research Article

Descriptive Epidemiology of and Response to the High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (H5N8) Epidemic in South African Coastal Seabirds, 2018

Table 1

Confirmed and suspected cases of high pathogenicity avian influenza (H5N8) in wild birds in Western and Eastern Cape provinces, South Africa (December 2017 to May 2018).

SpeciesDate 1st positive case foundNo. suspected/positive cases reportedNo. birds tested positive (rRT-PCR)No. birds tested negative at WC PVLNo. positive areas

African oystercatcher (Haematopus moquini Bonaparte, 1856)09 Mar 20185121
African penguin (Spheniscus demersus Linnaeus, 1758)12 Jan 201811831178
Arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea Pontoppidan, 1763)19 Dec 201710000
Cape cormorant (Phalacrocorax capensis Wahlberg, 1855)15 Feb 20181045153
Cape gannet (Morus capensis Lichtenstein, 1823)15 Feb 201814732201
Columbidae (Doves/Pigeons)18 Jan 2018Not recorded5453
Common tern (Sterna hirundo Linnaeus, 1758)04 Jan 2018288818
Crowned cormorant (Microcarbo coronatus Sparrman, 1788)02 Mar 20182101
Egyptian goose (Alopochen aegypticus Linnaeus, 1766)16 Jan 20182121
Grey-headed gull (Larus cirrocephalus Vieillot, 1818)23 Feb 20181101
Hartlaub’s gull (Chroicocephalus hartlaubii Bruch, 1853)15 Feb 2018248214
Jackal buzzard (Buteo rufofuscus JR Forster, 1798)11 Jan 20181101
Kelp (Cape) gull (Larus dominicanus Lichtenstein, 1823)15 Nov 2017170160
Parasitic jaeger (Stercorarius parasiticus Linnaeus 1758)02 Apr 20181101
Sabine’s gull (Xema sabini Sabine, 1819)25 Feb 20181010
Sacred ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus Latham, 1790)30 Mar 2018180110
Sandwich tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis Latham, 1787)27 Jan 201823212
Spotted eagle-owl (Bubo africanus Temminck, 1821)22 Feb 20181101
Swift tern (Thalasseus bergii Lichtenstein, 1823)20 Dec 2017542146423
White-breasted cormorant (Phalacrocorax lucidus Lichtenstein, 1823)21 Feb 201816000
Total75261158331

Western Cape Provincial Veterinary Laboratory rRT-PCR testing 1 December 2017 to 5 September 2018. The number of total tests carried out on wild birds at other laboratories is not available. Only cases between December 2017 and May 2018 are counted here, but the first detection was in August 2017.