Roughly 3 weeks ago Taiwan's BAPHIQ (Bureau of Animal Plant Health Inspection & Quarantine) reported their first detection of a reassorted HPAI H5N5 virus in a duck tested in Kaohsiung county (see Taiwan Reports 1st Avian H5N5 Virus In Ducks).
While I missed the second announcement over the weekend, thanks to Sharon Sanders at FluTrackers - who posted a translated media report last night - I was able to go back and retrieve the original government statement.The second outbreak occurred in adjacent Pingtung county, indicating that the first detection was not (as first hoped) an isolated, one-off event.
Yunlin and Pingtung farm confirmed avian influenza cases, called for the industry to implement the poultry farms biological Anquancuoshi
Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine Bureau (CIQ proof) today (4), said the animal health tests notice, Yunlin County and Pingtung County taixi Jiuru 1 each red feather chicken farm (both active bulletin) poultry, were diagnosed as H5N2 and H5N5 subtype highly pathogenic bird flu. Yunlin County Animal and Plant Health as standard operating procedures and Pingtung County Animal Epidemic Prevention to depend on the implementation of these poultry farms were only 34,345 of chickens (8 weeks old) with only 17,924 (10 weeks old), only a total of 52,269 culling destruction operations, and supervision industry field area complete cleaning and disinfection. So far confirmed bird flu and culling of poultry farms case count 60 cases this year.
Prevention and Quarantine Bureau indicated, in order to prevent the spread of pathogens, for Pingtung H5N5 bird flu cases since it will immediately start a comprehensive sampling of all poultry farms within 3 km of perimeter monitoring, and asked neighboring counties to strengthen animal epidemic prevention agencies within its jurisdiction poultry farms surrounding disinfection.
Prevention and Quarantine Bureau stressed that the poultry industry should maintain functional anti-bird facility field area, poultry and avoid waiting (wild) birds in contact, while the implementation of personnel and vehicles control, access to all personnel of poultry farms should replace clothing and shoes, all kinds of vehicles, cages, utensils and out, have to go through Chedi cleaning and disinfection, to enhance the overall biosecurity poultry farms, and reduce the spread of viruses and risks.
Prevention and Quarantine Bureau has also called for the poultry industry should be observed daily independent poultry health situation, if there is a large number of abnormal symptoms or death, shall immediately notify the local animal epidemic prevention agencies, should not discard any sick or dead poultry, and with the necessary monitoring and sampling related to the disposal of epidemic prevention to ensure the safety of poultry industry and sustainable development.In early 2015 Taiwan - along with Japan, the United States, Canada, and parts of Europe - was visited by a particularly robust, relatively new clade (2.3.4.4) of the H5 virus (see Taiwan Reports H5N8 On Goose Farm and `New Strain’ Of H5N2), which rapidly became endemic on the island nation.
Since then, Taiwan has mainly been plagued with H5N2, H5N8, and H5N6 outbreaks, but has also detected a plethora of other subtypes in wild birds.During Europe's 2016-2017 avian H5N8 epizootic, we saw a handful of `spinoff' reassortants, including HPAI H5N5, isolated from a duck collected in the Netherlands (see OIE Notification).
It isn't clear at this time whether this HPAI H5N5 virus is a local reassortment with their H5N8 virus, a newly imported virus, or (less likely) the product of an LPAI-to-HPAI mutation.
Stay tuned.
