Taiwan, Turkey, India battle avian flu; OIE calls for vigilance
Robert Roos
CIDRAP News
May 19, 2015
Taiwan, Turkey, and India reported incursions by three different varieties of avian flu viruses, as the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) called on governments to make sure they follow OIE standards for preventing and controlling the globally widespread outbreaks.
Taiwan, which has battled many avian flu outbreaks over the past several months, reported six more H5N2 and two H5N8 outbreaks to the OIE yesterday.
The six H5N2 events involved chicken and goose farms and one abattoir in Yunlin and Changhua counties on the western side of the island and Pingtung County in the south. Among 64,498 susceptible birds, 25,060 died of the infection and the rest were culled to prevent its spread.
The H5N8 virus hit one goose farm in Pingtung County, killing 1,571 of 2,400 birds, and a Yunlin County abattoir, killing 38 of 2,480 chickens. The rest of the birds at both sites were destroyed as a precaution.
H5N1 strikes Turkey again
Meanwhile, Turkey yesterday reported its third recent incursion of H5N1, which resurfaced in the country a few weeks ago after being absent since 2008. The virus killed 137 of 170,000 poultry on a farm in Manisa province, which is near the Aegean Sea in west-central Turkey, Turkish officials told the OIE.
The surviving birds were culled as a precaution, as were all other poultry within 3 kilometers of the farm, the report said.
Also yesterday, India reported two H5N1 avian flu outbreaks in widely separated states—Andhra Pradesh in the southern part of the country and Manipur in the northeast, near Myanmar.
In Manipur, 940 of 21,814 farm poultry succumbed to the virus, while 41,040 of 201,264 village poultry died in Andhra Pradesh, said the report, which did not specify the type of poultry. The surviving birds at both sites were culled. India reported three H5N1 outbreaks in March.
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