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Almost 60,000
chickens culled over H5N2 flu
AVIAN FLU: Although the strain cannot be passed
from human to human, it could endanger US$23.8 million of poultry exports if
deemed ¡¥highly pathogenic¡¦
Staff Writer, with CNA
Chickens are fed at a chicken
farm in Greater Tainan yesterday. Following Taiwan¡¦s first outbreak of the
highly pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza, 57,500 chickens have been culled in the
Greater Tainan and Changhua areas.
Photo: Yang Chin-cheng, Taipei Times
A total of 57,500 chickens have been
culled in areas around Greater Tainan and Changhua County in Taiwan¡¦s first
outbreak of the H5N2 avian influenza strain, the Council of Agriculture (COA)
said yesterday.
The chicken farm in Changhua reported the disease on Dec. 27 last year, while
cases at a farm in Greater Tainan were detected on Feb. 7, council officials
said. The chickens in Greater Tainan were culled on Feb. 10, while the culling
of the ones in Changhua was completed yesterday morning, the officials added.
The outbreak was under control and no chickens at nearby farms were found to be
sick, added Wu Ming-pin (§d¦W±l), deputy director of Greater Tainan¡¦s Animal Health
Inspection and Protection Office.
The H5N2 strain cannot be passed from human to human and none of the three
farmers or six inspectors showed symptoms of infection, the Centers for Disease
Control said.
However, poultry product exports worth NT$700 million (US$23.8 million) might be
banned by the nation¡¦s trading partners because Taiwan could be listed as an
infected region if the virus is confirmed to be highly pathogenic, the Bureau of
Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said.
Poultry meat is one of the country¡¦s top poultry product exports, with a value
of between NT$360 million and NT$370 million per year, said Hsu Kuei-sen (³\®Û´Ë),
director of the council¡¦s husbandry division.
Other exports that could be affected include preserved eggs, salted duck eggs,
raw eggs and pet birds, Hsu added.
If the exports are banned, Taiwan¡¦s poultry trade would resume only if no H5N2
case appears for three months. The bureau said it would report the outbreak to
the World Organisation for Animal Health.
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