Thursday, May 10, 2012

Yunlin County farms under watch in Taiwan bird flu scare

2012-05-10 05:38 PM

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Health authorities are supervising a total of 16 farms after thousands of chickens died, but it still has not been shown that H5N2 avian flu was the cause, the Yunlin County Government said Thursday.

An estimated 3,000 chickens died over the past three days at a farm in Peikang raising a total of 18,000 birds, reports said. The Yunlin County Government said it had samples of dead animals sent to laboratories for tests on Wednesday.

A total of 16 farms in the area were being monitored for signs of bird flu, county officials said. They described the deaths of the chickens as an isolated case which should not induce panic among consumers.

The county said none of the chickens from the farm in question had reached markets, so consumers should not be worried. As soon as the deaths had been reported, the authorities closed off the farm and prevented people, animals and vehicles from leaving, according to the county government.

An additional 150 chickens died on Thursday, marking a decline compared to the previous few days, the authorities said. Some experts said that the dead birds did not show the usual symptoms of H5N2, including the feet turning purple, and that rapid temperature and weather changes might be to blame.

Whether H5N2 was behind the deaths would be determined by tests with results to be announced on Friday, officials said. If it proved necessary, the authorities would be ready to cull all poultry at the farm, the county government said.

Yunlin counts about 900 chicken farms and 600 duck or geese farms, according to an official tally, but no H5N2 was reported when the first outbreak hit Taiwan last March. A total of 60,000 birds were culled in Changhua County and Tainan to contain the spread of the highly pathogenic bird flu strain.

The outbreak led to allegations of a government cover-up when it was revealed that a documentary maker and bird flu specialist had discovered problems at the farms more than two months earlier.

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