Fearing a deadly bird flu could be carried by migrating birds, South Africa's agricultural authorities on Monday told poultry producers to fence off farms and keep vigilant.

Chicken and ostrich farmers have been advised to follow strict biosecurity measures to prevent avian influenza being contracted from migrating birds from the Northern Hemisphere.

An outbreak of the H5N1 type flu in Southeast Asia, Russia, Turkey and Romania was a matter for serious concern, the agriculture ministry said in a statement.

Although there was little chance of the virus being imported into South Africa, it could be carried by migrating birds.

"Although there are no water birds that migrate from the Northern Hemisphere to South Africa, certain shore birds (like) terns, visit our coast line during the summer months," said the statement.

The ministry advised commercial chicken producers to fence off their production sites, ideally with an electric fence. They should prevent unauthorized entry to their farms with security gates and not allow visitors into poultry houses.

Other recommendations included that workers be compelled to wear protective clothing, not be allowed to keep their own poultry or to bring poultry for consumption onto the premises.

"There should be NO contact between wild birds and chickens," the statement read. "Houses should be constructed in such a way that wild birds cannot gain entry, and there should be no open water in the vicinity of chicken houses (includes ponds, open dams) . Spilt feed should be removed immediately."

As for ostriches, the ministry advised that no domestic bird species, including ducks, geese, chickens or turkeys, be kept in close contact with ostriches.

The measure should also be applied to pigs, from which scientists fear the flu virus could jump from birds to humans, thus causing highly dangerous mutation and massive deaths.

Ostriches should not have access to open bodies of water harboring wild birds, the ministry said.

South Africa, the world's largest ostrich producer, declared itself free from the less-harmful H5N2 bird flu in September this year, following an outbreak of the disease in ostrich farms in the Eastern Cape last year.

The outbreak led to the culling of more than 26,000 ostriches and prompted some European and Asian countries to ban imports of ostrich products from South Africa.

Source: Xinhua