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Avian influenza surveillance is a requirement for commercial trade in ostrich products, but influenza A viruses (IAVs) have proven difficult to isolate from ostrich tracheal swabs that test positive using molecular methods. We hypothesized that microbes unique to the ostrich trachea propagate in the transport medium after sampling and affect viral viability. We cultured tracheal swabs from 50 ostriches on 4 farms in South Africa, and recovered and identified 13 bacterial, 1 yeast, and 2 fungal species. Dietzia sp. had not been identified previously in the oropharyngeal tract of a bird, to our knowledge. The bacteria were tested for antimicrobial susceptibility, and most aerobic species, except for Streptococcus sp. and Pseudomonas sp., were sensitive to enrofloxacin; all were susceptible to sulfonamide. Virus inhibition experiments determined that ostrich-source Streptococcus sp., Pantoea sp., and Citrobacter freundii produced extracellular metabolites that caused a substantial reduction in the IAV titers of 99.9%. Streptomyces, Corynebacterium, Staphylococcus, Arthrobacter gandavensis, Pseudomonas putida, and Acinetobacter spp. similarly reduced the viability of IAV from 77.6% to 24.1%. Dietzia appeared to have no effect, but Rothia dentocariosa, Rhodotorula spp., and Clostridium spp. slightly increased the viability of IAV by 25.9, 34.9, and 58.5%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ostrich (Struthio camelus) has become one of the valuable agricultural enterprises in many countries of the world. China has become Asian's number one ostrich species raiser with about 20,000 ostrich bred farms. China started in 1992 to import some ostrich species from South Africa. Ostrich was raised globely since the 1980s for its feathers, meat, egg, hair and bone are all of high economic value. China's progress in producing ostriches has improved it's rank from fifth to the second globely in recent years, due to the following factors: The area of pastures which reached 40% of the area of China.Large amounts of agricultural wasts. China has been producing iron and thus has produced the cheapest agricultural machines, such as irrigation machines, cutting and pressing the feed. China achieved progress in the electronical industries which have enabled it to produce hatchery machines to promote the poultry industry. China is making use of solar energy and producing cheap energy used to irrigate agricultural land and operate farm machinery. Thus, the price of feed is cheap and therefore it costs to feed the ostriches as little as possible.Use of seawater desalination technology and cultivation of saline-tolerant fodder crops such as fodder beat, bonicam and blubank .The use of leather processing tectology and production of the finest leather industries of shoes and bags .China has imported large amounts of ostriches from South Africa and used the best breeding and ostrich production systems in South Africa. The most important factors leading to the success of the ostrich industry in china are limited into three factors. First: Nutrition and cheap feed should be provided by planting enough alfalfa. Using solar energy to irrigate these lands. Sowing saline and drought tolerant genotypes, such as blubanks and bonecam, as well as machines for cutting and making pellet for green feed. Second: Hatching Third: Health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2011, the commercial ostrich production industry of South Africa experienced an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), subtype H5N2. Surveillance using antibody and antigen detection revealed 42 infected farms with a between-farm prevalence in the affected area of 16%. The outbreak was controlled using depopulation of infected farms, resulting in the direct loss of 10% of the country’s domestic ostrich population. Various factors in the ostrich production system were observed that could have contributed to the spread of the virus between farms, including the large number of legal movements of ostriches between farms, access of wild birds to ostrich camps and delays in depopulation of infected farms. Negative effects on the ostrich industry and the local economy of the ostrich-producing area were observed as a result of the outbreak and the disease control measures applied. Prevention and control measures applied as a result of avian influenza in South Africa were informed by this large outbreak and the insights into epidemiology of avian influenza in ostriches that it provided, resulting in stricter biosecurity measures required on every registered ostrich farm in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives The HPAI H5N2 strain that caused an outbreak in ostriches of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa in 2004 was characterized. Design Haemagglutination inhibition (HI) and agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID) were performed on sera from ostrich farms in the outbreak region, and intravenous pathogenicity (IVPI) tests, reverse-transcriptase-polymerase-chain reaction (RT-PCR), nucleic acid sequencing and phylogenetic comparisons were performed on the HPAI H5N2 virus isolated during the outbreak. Results The deduced amino acid sequence at the HA0 cleavage site determined by RT-PCR and nucleotide sequencing was PQREKRRKKRGLF and thus the virus fell within the definition of a highly pathogenic virus, but in an IVPI test in chickens on the virus isolated from the index case and a value of 0·63 was recorded, which is below the criterion for highly pathogenic viruses in this in vivo test. After a further passage in embryonated eggs a second IVPI was carried out and an elevated value of 1·19 was obtained. Cloacal swabs were taken from the initial IVPI birds, inoculated into embryonated chickens eggs and a third IVPI was then performed on the resulting haemagglutinating, infective allantoic fluid. An index of 2·73 was recorded. Conclusions HI tests appeared to be the more sensitive test compared to AGID when testing for antibodies to avian influenza in sera. An ostrich-derived virus with a virulent HA0 cleavage site was not initially virulent in chickens but after passage in the latter the virulence increased. Phylogenetic analyses demonstrated the link between AI viruses carried by wild ducks and those infecting ostriches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Cold-deboning is currently practiced in South African ostrich abattoirs. However, the advantages of hot-deboning include the reduction of costs and time, but there is always the risk of cold-shortening. The effects of hot-deboning of ostrich M. gastrocnemius, pars interna on meat sensory attributes were investigated. The data showed that the hot-deboned muscles’ pH48 (6.57±0.18) was significantly negatively correlated (r =−0.7813; P <0.038) to the mean Warner–Bratzler shear force values (71.28±18.62 N, 12.7mm−1 diameter) and positively correlated (r =0.789; P <0.035) to the mean scores for taste panel tenderness (66.39±15.45). After storage for 48h post-mortem, the hot-deboned muscles were found to be less juicy (P <0.004) and, according to both sensory tenderness scores and Warner–Bratzler shear force values, tougher (P <0.0001) than the cold-deboned muscles. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Mycoplasmas have been implicated in certain clinical syndromes in ostriches and are associated with upper respiratory tract infections. As these infections result in production losses, they are of considerable economic importance to the South African ostrich industry. Although poultry mycoplasmas have been shown to infect ostriches, the existence of unique ostrich-specific mycoplasmas has been suggested. In this study, mycoplasmas were isolated from ostriches in the Klein Karoo, Central Karoo and Garden Route areas of the Western and Northern Cape Provinces of South Africa and identified using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. These sequences indicated that ostriches in these areas carry three unique mycoplasmas and were not infected with chicken mycoplasmas. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA sequences of the three isolated ostrich mycoplasmas showed them to be quite divergent and to fall into two distinct phylogenetic groupings. Unique sequences within the 16S rRNA gene of the ostrich mycoplasmas were subsequently used for the development of specific primers for the detection and diagnosis of mycoplasma infections in ostriches. Chickens kept in close proximity to infected ostriches were not infected with these ostrich mycoplasmas. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]