Bird flu outbreak expands across Taiwan

By Park Sae-jin Posted : January 29, 2015, 16:50 Updated : January 29, 2015, 16:50
Nineteen more poultry farms in Taiwan have been found to be infected with avian influenza, bringing to 39 the total number of infected farms on the island, said agriculture authorities.

Except for two in northern Taoyuan County, all of the new additions were in southern Taiwan, including the counties of Changhua, Yunlin, Chiayi and Pingtung, and Kaohsiung City.

A total of 94,975 infected ducks and geese from the 39 farms need to be culled. The killing of 36,000 had been completed by 11 a.m. Wednesday.

The bird flu outbreak is expanding. A chicken farm in Tainan was confirmed as being affected by the virus; a duck farm in central Nantou county reported abnormal deaths of poultry and testing is under way; a chicken farm in northern Miaoli County reported suspicious chicken deaths; and a movement ban was imposed on poultry.

The first case in the latest outbreak was confirmed on Jan. 9 when a chicken farm in Pingtung was found to have been hit by the H5N2 virus.

By Ruchi Singh
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