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Follow-up investigations showed no sign of disease in the area surrounding the outbreak at a farm near the southwestern coastal town of Mossel Bay, the Department of Agriculture said in a statement.
However, routine surveillance and blood testing suggested a small number of farms in other parts of the Western and Eastern Cape provinces may also have been exposed to the virus. No signs of disease have been found so far on these farms, the statement said.
Tests last month at the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute confirmed the presence near Mossel Bay of the H5N2 strain of bird flu, less dangerous than the H5N1 strain that has affected birds across Asia, Africa, Europe and continues to occasionally infect humans.
A similar outbreak in the Eastern and Western Cape provinces in 2004-2005 was contained after a quarantine was imposed and more than 26 400 birds culled at 37 farms.
The two provinces are home to some of the country's largest ostrich farms _ an industry that brings in R1.2bn ($170m in export earnings annually.
South Africa supplies about 70% of the world's ostrich meat - about 950 000 tons a year. But the main source of revenue is the bird's skin. Ostrich leather is used in the production of clothing items, bags and luxury vehicle interiors.
"All commercially available ostrich and poultry products remain safe for human consumption," the Department of Agriculture said Wednesday.
