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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.
Clade 2.3.4.4 H5 viruses are notorious for their ability to reassort and reinvent themselves into new subtypes (including H5N1, H5N2, H5N5, H5N6, H5N8, and H5N9).
While Taiwan has had to contend primarily with H5N2 and H5N8, roughly 3 months 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).
A second outbreak occurred in adjacent Pingtung county two weeks later (see Taiwan BAPHIQ: 2nd Outbreak Of HPAI H5N5), indicating that the first detection was not (as first hoped) an isolated, one-off event and a third detection at a Taipei City Abattoir was reported in mid-October (see OIE Report).
Today - after a 2 month lull - we are learning of a 4th detection of HPAI H5N5, once again reported from Pingtung County. This (translated) report form the Pingtung County government website.
Local chicken industry proactively informs confirmed bird flu infection
Date: 108-12-16 Source: Pingtung Animal Disease Prevention Center
A local chicken farm in Yanpu Township notified the epidemic prevention unit of the abnormal death of poultry raised on December 12, and the Pingtung Animal Epidemic Prevention Office started the epidemic prevention mechanism in accordance with standard operating procedures, and went to control the farm ’s chickens, the area and the surrounding area. Spray disinfection was carried out, and samples were sent to the Animal Health Laboratory of the Agricultural Committee of the Executive Yuan for inspection.
On December 15th, the laboratory was confirmed to be infected with the H5N5 subtype highly pathogenic bird flu virus. The Animal Epidemic Prevention Office has gone to the site to perform the culling operation. At the scene, 16,310 black feather chickens (approximately 7 weeks old) were culled, and the operators were once again supervised to complete the cleaning and disinfection of the site to reduce the risk of spreading the epidemic. In addition, the monitoring and sampling of surrounding poultry farms within a radius of 3 kilometers of the farm was started simultaneously to confirm the health status and virus-free activities of the poultry in the surrounding farms to control the spread of viruses and epidemics.
The director of the Institute of Animal Defense, Li Yongwen, said that the temperature difference between morning and evening is likely to cause high urgency of poultry and increase the risk of disease. Cleaning and disinfection measures to maintain the health of poultry. The Animal Defense Institute also urged that if the poultry farmers in the county found that the poultry in the farm was depressed, lost appetite, decreased egg production rate, or died abnormally, please immediately report to the epidemic prevention authorities to deal with it immediately to stop the virus from invading and spreading.
(Continue . . . )
The origins of this newly emerged HPAI H5N5 virus are still under investigation, and we don't yet know if this is a local reassortment, an imported virus carried in by migratory birds, or (less likely) the product of a local LPAI-to-HPAI mutation.
