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.
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