The Council of Agriculture (COA) confirmed on Saturday that there has been an outbreak of a lesser-strain of bird flu in Kaohsiung County. Fortunately, the virus found is not the H5N1 strain, which is highly pathogenic and could cause death to humans. It is the H5N2 subtype, which hasn’t been reported to cause illness in humans. The outbreak can be traced back to a chicken farm in Luchu Township which reported to the animal authorities that a number of their birds have fallen ill. Around 3 percent of the chickens died. The COA said they are taking the outbreak seriously despite the fact that the H5N2 strain is less dangerous than H5N1. The outbreak will be reported to the World Organization for Animal Health. All the chickens on the farm had been culled voluntarily by the farm owner on November 14th. Now that the report confirms the bird flu outbreak, more than 76 nearby chicken farms will be monitored. Due to the outbreak, Taiwan will not be able to export chicken to Japan for at least three months. | 
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