Bird flu has been identified in three more South African ostrich farms but remains within the officially quarantined infection area, the government said on Wednesday.
Nationwide tests are under way to confirm the virus has not spread beyond Eastern Cape province, where 8,600 birds have been culled, Agriculture Ministry spokesman Segoati Mahlungu said.
South African officials have identified the bird flu outbreak as the H5N2 strain of the disease, which is dangerous for birds but distinct from the feared H5N1 strain which killed 24 people and decimated poultry stocks in Asia this year.
"The information we have at the moment is that the disease has been identified in three more farms in the infected zone, making five farms in total," Mahlungu said.
South Africa supplies about 70 percent of the world's ostrich meat, producing around 950,000 tons a year.
Mahlungu said the government was confident the epidemic was being contained, but had mounted a national testing program just in case.
A veterinarian at the center analyzing the test results said the results of the nationwide tests would be available in about a week's time.
"If all the other provinces are free from the disease we can get our export status back," she said, declining to be identified.
South Africa has imposed a ban on its own ostrich meat exports, and the European Union has separately banned ostrich meat imports from the country.
If South Africa is forced to vaccinate its ostriches it will lose its export status for several years, she said.
Earlier in the month, ostrich industry representatives said an export ban of more than 30 days could cost producers more than $15.6 million.