An academic yesterday criticized the government’s epidemic prevention measures following a mass culling of hens in Changhua County on Sunday due to bird flu and the first confirmed infection of a dove with a highly pathogenic avian influenza H5 subtype virus.
A total of 27,538 laying hens were culled after confirmation of the H5N2 virus on the Changhua farm, the third bird flu case in the county and the 10th in the nation this year, the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said.
A dead wild dove found at Yunlin County’s Erlun Township (二崙) was confirmed to be infected with a new strain of the H5 virus, the first dove infection with the H5 virus in the nation and the latest of a series of non-migrant bird infections, following a pigeon found in Taipei and a sparrow found in Taichung earlier this month, the bureau said.
Lai Shiow-suey (賴秀穗), a professor of veterinary at National Taiwan University said the infection of wild birds with the H5 virus subtypes suggests the virus might have mutated to become localized and aggressive, infecting birds not easily infected with avian influenza.
“Unlike migrants birds that are usually bird flu virus hosts, wild birds and waterfowl are less prone to infection, but a series of deaths including a dove, a pigeon, a sparrow and a bulbul is clear evidence that the virus has mutated,” Lai said.
“The pigeon infected with the H5N2 found in Taipei suggests that the virus has spread to every part of the nation,” Lai said.
The H5N2 is a strain that has developed locally after the H5N8 virus — originating from China — entered Taiwan in 2014, he said.
The H5N2 has succeeded the H5N8 to become the most prevalent bird flu virus in the nation, Lai said, calling on the government to establish its own virus database, instead of relying on foreign databases to develop localized epidemic prevention measures.
The H5N2 strain does not affect humans, but it potentially could after genetic recombination, as hundreds of cases of human infection of mutated H5N1 and H7N9 viruses have been reported in China, he said.
“The government must order an immediate cull for every credible report of suspected infection. It must not waste time running tests. Millions of viruses could be bred in a chicken in a matter of few days. The government must have the resolve to stop the spread of bird flu,” Lai said.
He called on poultry farms to cooperate with the government and voluntarily report every suspected infection instead of taking the matter upon themselves.
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