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Hunt for bird-flu vaccine starts

Workers from an animal-disease prevention center in Changhua County yesterday morning remove killed chickens from an infected chicken farm in an attempt to prevent the spread of bird-flu viruses. PHOTO: WANG PAI-LIEN, TAIPEI TIMES

Taiwan will take the opportunity of the discovery of avian-flu virus subtype H5N2 on a poultry farm in Changhua County to try to develop a bird-flu vaccine for humans, a Department of Health (DOH) official said yesterday.

Su Ih-jen (蘇益仁), director-general of the Center for Disease Control, said transmission of the avian flu to humans is rare, but the highly contagious bird-flu virus could mutate rapidly. New mutations may turn out to be deadly to people because humans have no antibodies against them.

Noting that H5 vaccines for fowl have already been produced abroad, Su said that the department will seek to cooperate with foreign pharmaceutical companies to jointly research and develop H5 vaccines for humans.

Su has traveled from Taipei to Changhua County to inspect the poultry farm in Fangyuan Township where some 20,000 chickens were destroyed early yesterday morning after the avian flu virus subtype H5N2 was discovered among the fowl.

Su said that all six workers on the poultry farm, including the owner, will undergo thorough health checks to make sure they have not been infected with the virus. One of the six workers has had a cough, but Su, who holds a doctoral degree in medicine, said that, judging from the worker's symptoms, it is likely that he only had the common cold.

Noting that Taiwan has never had an avian flu case, Su said it is believed that the H5N2 virus that was detected on the Fangyuan farm was probably brought to Taiwan by migratory birds.

Meanwhile, poultry farm owners in neighboring Chiayi County have apparently become jittery as a result of the H5N2 report in Changhua. Many of the owners have begun to sterilize their farms and to chase migratory birds from their fields.

In Taipei, officials from the Kuandu Nature Park said that since avian-flu cases were reported in Japan, Vietnam and South Korea earlier this week, the park had sent relevant samples obtained from birds in the park to the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine for testing.

None of the samples has been found to carry the H5 virus.

The Kuandu Nature Park, located near Tamsui, is one of the largest natural habitats in northern Taiwan for wild birds, particularly migratory birds.

In related news, an official from the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine yesterday called on the public not to use raw eggs as an ingredient when they eat hot-pot while there are concerns that the bird-flu virus could be affecting the nation's poultry population.
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