A strain of avian influenza virus identified as H5N3 was detected yesterday for the first time in Taiwan, amid a widening investigation of the outbreak hitting poultry farms across the nation, the Council of Agriculture’s Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said.
Since the latest avian flu outbreak was first reported last week, three new strains, including variants of H5N2 and H5N8, have been discovered.
As of 6pm on Thursday, 137 poultry farms have been inspected and samples have been collected for laboratory testing. The latest results showed that 101 of the farms were infected, with the H5N3 virus found at two of them, the bureau said.
Photo: CNA
All three newly found strains are highly pathogenic, the bureau said.
H5N3 was found in samples from two geese farms in Greater Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and it was apparently responsible for the deaths of 53 geese at the latter.
Animal Health Research Institute Director-General Tsai Hsiang-jung (蔡向榮) said the new sub-type of H5N3 is the result of a viral recombination, just like the new variant H5N2 found on Sunday last week.
The “H5” (hemagglutinin) of the local H5N3 subtype is 99 percent the same as one seen in South Korea, while the “N3” (neuraminidase) is 98 percent similar to the H1N3 found in Thai ducks in 2011, the H2N3 found in Mongolian mallards in 2010 and the H5N3 found in wild ducks in Kaohsiung in 2013, Tsai said.
The N3 is also 97 percent identical to the H5N3 found in domestic ducks in Hualien County in 2013, the expert added.
“It is certain this is the first time the [new sub-type of] H5N3 was detected in geese raised at farms in Taiwan,” Tsai said, adding that he suspects the outbreak is not the first of its kind in the world, but would have to check relevant data to be sure.
Like the new variant of H5N2 and H5N8, H5N3 is “highly pathogenic and deadly” for the birds.
National Chung Hsing University professor of veterinary medicine H.K. Shieh (謝快樂) said that as ducks and geese raised in open fields have been hit the hardest by the outbreaks, he believes the viruses are being spread by wild birds coming in contact with farm flocks.
He suggested the recombination that created the new sub-types might have happened in regions to the north of Taiwan such as Siberia and then was brought here.
While so far only ducks and geese have been killed by the avian flu virus strains, the outbreak would be deadly for chickens should it come in contact with the largest domestic poultry group in Taiwan, Shieh said.
According to Tsai, one chicken egg farm in Pingtung and another in Greater Tainan have been confirmed to be infected with a previously known strain of H5N2, which is also highly pathogenic.
Another chicken farm in Changhua County has been confirmed to be infected with an H5 subtype, but the exact subtype has not been completely identified, Tsai said.
A chicken farm in Miaoli County, where 80 out of 15,080 chickens have died, might also be infected, Tsai said, adding that laboratory testing has taken place and it is to take two weeks before results are known.
Of the 137 farms where samples have been collected for testing, 124 are goose farms. The farms are home to 424,641 geese, or 23.99 percent of all geese in the nation, according to the bureau.
As of yesterday, the price for goose meat remained unchanged at NT$62 per 600 grams despite the outbreak, the council said.
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