The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday urged the public to be more cautious and for people who work with birds to take precautionary measures as several cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza A virus subtype H5N6 infection have been confirmed at poultry farms across the nation since last week.
The centers on Sunday held a video conference with infectious disease prevention specialists and officials in charge of local disease prevention units in areas where cases have been reported, it said, adding that on Monday it began instituting response measures and contacted health authorities in Japan and South Korea to exchange information.
In one case of infection at a silkie chicken farm in Chiayi County’s Puzih City (朴子), which was confirmed on Monday, the farmers — a married couple — failed to implement prevention measures when they slaughtered chickens on the farm on Thursday last week, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said.
Photo: Huan Meng-jing, Taipei Times, courtesy of the Hualien County Animal and Plant Disease Control Center
“The couple exhibited no flu-like symptoms over the five days after slaughtering the chickens,” Lo said.
“The risk of human infection with avian influenza H5N6 is relatively low, but when people do get infected, the mortality rate is up to about 70 percent,” he said.
CDC physicians and disease prevention officials have prescribed a five-day regimen of anti-viral agents for the couple to reduce their risk of developing the disease, Lo said.
A total of 99 people — 74 in Yilan County, eight in Chiayi, one in Hualien County and 16 in Tainan — are being monitored by the agency and local health bureaus due to their exposure to H5N6 cases and they will only be removed from the watch list if they do not exhibit flu-like symptoms within 10 days, he said.
The respiratory secretions and feces of poultry infected with bird flu can contain a high concentration of the virus, which can enter the bodies of people handling the birds through their eyes, nose or mouth if they are not careful when handling the animals, Lo said.
Such people should wear protective clothing, surgical masks, gloves, rubber shoes and goggles to reduce the risk of infection, he added.
Citing an increasing number of avian influenza A virus subtype H7N9 infections in humans reported in China recently — including 56 cases reported last week, mostly in Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces — the CDC urged people visiting China to be cautious, maintain good personal hygiene and avoid direct contact with birds.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition