Poultry experts, however, are saying that you can eat all the eggs you can get your hands on.

In a recent interview with the chairperson of the South African Veterinary Association’s poultry group, Dr Wilhelm Maré assured residents that H7N6 and H5N1, the only two viruses currently circulating in South Africa, do not have the capacity to infect humans.

“Although there is a highly pathogenic avian flu outbreak, it is important to note that there are measures in place to prevent infected eggs and meat from being made available for sale. Despite shortages, any available supply is uncontaminated.”

Dr Maré further added that while avian influenza has the potential to infect humans, the virus requires mutations to do so, and people are safe from H7N6 and H5N1 and no human cases have been reported in South Africa, despite 11 million birds being infected.

While shortages of eggs and chicken meat are felt across the board, Dr Maré said that steps are already being taken to remedy the problem.

“In the long term, vaccination will be important in ensuring a reoccurrence of this outbreak. While there are no approved vaccines against H7N6 currently available in South Africa, a local laboratory is in the process of manufacturing an inactivated vaccine from a local strain. The manufacture of this vaccine is only estimated to be completed in January 2024, as it still needs to be registered.”

Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development have confirmed that a registered vaccine against H7N6 in Mexico will be evaluated for registration under Act 36 of 1947.

“The Department has fast-tracked the registration of the vaccine, but the distribution thereof will be managed by the government under special conditions and testing – a process which at present is more costly than the vaccine itself. This will also affect the price of eggs and chicken.”

According to Dr Maré, the poultry industry has lost approximately 30 per cent of its broiler breeding stock, 50 per cent of its layer breeding stock and 30 per cent of all commercial layers to date.

• Gauteng, parts of Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the North West are currently affected by H7N6, where an estimated 7.2 million infected chickens have been culled and a total of 11 million chickens have been affected by the outbreak. This data includes 33 broiler breeder farms, six layer breeder farms and 47 layer farms in the country, according to the association’s figures.

• The H5N1 virus is prevalent in wild birds across the globe and is currently affecting farms in the Cape.