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Taiwan's rabies virus closest to
China type
http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201308050044.aspx
2013/08/05 22:32:50
Taipei, Aug. 5 (CNA) The Council of
Agriculture said on Monday that the strains of the rabies virus found in Taiwan
are highly similar to those found in China.
In the latest test, the researchers determined after analyzing the virus strains
found in rabies-infected Formosan ferret-badgers in Taiwan that they are about
90 percent similar to those found in China and can be classified into three
types, said Tsai Hsiang-jung, director-general of the council's Animal Health
Research Institute.
The findings suggest the virus has been lurking in Taiwan's mountainous areas
for years before it was discovered by health authorities, Tsai said, but he
declined to speculate on how long the virus has existed here.
Asked if the disease could have been caused by smuggled animals from China, Tsai
said health officials were not certain of this, but that there was a "very high
possibility" this might have happened.
On July 17, Taiwan informed the World Organization for Animal Health of its
three confirmed cases of rabies in wild Formosan ferret-badgers -- two in Nantou
County and another in Yunlin County.
The number of confirmed infections in animals in Taiwan went up to 40 as of
Monday.
All of the confirmed rabies cases so far have been Formosan ferret-badgers, with
the exception of an Asian house shrew.
Rabies has been recorded in 28 districts and townships in seven cities and
counties across central and southern Taiwan.
(By Joyce Lin and James Lee)
ENDITEM/cs
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