20.03.2012

Taiwan has confirmed its third outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza in commercial poultry. All began last month but were reported to the OIE after delays of varying lengths. The most recent report describes an outbreak in a flock of 8,647 poultry that killed 426 birds in Chu-Tang township of Changhua County. A Mar 10 report detailed 318 deaths in a flock of 9,625 in Fang-Yuan township in the same county, and a Mar 3 report confirmed 804 H5N2 deaths in a flock of 4,804 birds in Liou-Jia district of Tainan county. All remaining birds in the three flocks were culled. In January Taiwan reported to the OIE that a November 2011 avian influenza outbreak killed 200 birds on a commercial farm in Fang-Yuan, and the remaining 52,800 poultry were culled. That outbreak, however, was attributed to low-pathogenic H5N2, even though all infected birds died. The H5N2 outbreaks have led to charges of a government cover-up, according to a Mar 14 Taipei Times article (CIDRAP).