Human surveillance and phylogeny of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N8) during an outbreak in poultry in South Africa, 2017.

Background: In June 2017, an outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N8) was detected in commercial poultry farms in South Africa, which rapidly spread to all nine South African provinces.

Objectives: We conducted active surveillance for the transmission of influenza A(H5N8) to humans working with infected birds during the South African outbreak.

Methods: Influenza A(H5N8)-positive veterinary specimens were used to evaluate the ability of real-time PCR-based assays to detect contemporary avian influenza A(H5N8) strains.