# 6732
Taiwan, which has seen sporadic outbreaks of H5N2 avian influenza in the past, is reporting outbreaks at two poultry farms this morning, albeit in two different counties; one on the main island in Chaiyi county, and the other in the Penghu archipelago off their eastern coast.
In a bit of a a surprise, the media report indicates that officials do not plan to cull the birds at the Chiayi farm, since the outbreak is low path. A cull has already been completed at the Penghu farm, where a number of birds had died.
First the report from Focus Taiwan, and then a statement from the Hong Kong Government.
H5N2 bird flu reported at chicken farm in Chiayi
2012/11/23 18:00:34Taipei, Nov. 23 (CNA) Animal health officials have imposed a ban on the movement of chickens at a farm in southern Taiwan that has been found infected with low-pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza.
Wong Yo-chu, director of the Chiayi County government's Animal Disease Control Center, said his agency will not allow the 15,700 chickens at the farm in Puzih to be moved off the premises, but they will be kept alive.
"As it was low-pathogenic, we will not cull the chickens," Wong said, but the eggs laid by the chickens will have to be disinfected before they can be sold on the market.
<SNIP>
Bureau officials also said that a farm with 800 chickens in outlying Penghu County reported the sudden death of 150 chickens on Nov. 19 and another 50 the following day. The farm was confirmed to have been infected with H5N2 virus Thursday.
(By Huang Kuo-fang, Huang Chiao-wen, and Lilian Wu)
In both cases, farms within 3 kilometers of the outbreaks will be monitored for signs of infection for the next 3 months. Hong Kong’s Centre for Food Safety (CFS) issued the following statement this morning.
HK suspends import of poultry eggs from two counties in Taiwan
In response to outbreaks of H5N2 avian influenza in Penghu and Chiayi counties announced by the relevant Taiwan authority, a spokesman for the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said today (November 23) that Hong Kong would suspend import of poultry eggs from these two counties with immediate effect.
The spokesman said, Hong Kong did not import any live poultry or poultry meat from Taiwan, but there was a small quantity of poultry eggs imported from Taiwan. According to records, during the first three quarters of this year about 7 700 000 poultry eggs have been imported into Hong Kong from Taiwan.
"We will closely monitor information issued by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) on the avian influenza outbreak and the latest situation in Taiwan, and will maintain close contacts with major local egg importers, distributors and supermarkets," the spokesman said.
Ends/Friday, November 23, 2012
Issued at HKT 19:54
Low path outbreaks of H5 and H7 avian influenzas have been recorded around the globe, and rarely present a human health threat.
CIDRAP’s overview on avian influenza Avian Influenza (Bird Flu): Agricultural and Wildlife Considerations details many of these outbreaks.
Low Pathogenic avian viruses, if left unchecked, have the potential to mutate into a more highly pathogenic strain. For that reason low path outbreaks of the H5 and H7 variety are taken seriously, and are a reportable disease to the OIE.
Culling is generally the recommended response.
Which makes the decision not to cull the birds at the Chiayi farm, and to allow `disinfected eggs’ to enter the marketplace, a curious departure from the control efforts we’ve seen in the past.
