Chickens that were found to have avian influenza in a slaughterhouse in Kaohsiung early last week have been destroyed, the Council of Agriculture’s Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said on Saturday.
The bureau said in a statement that it received a report on Wednesday from a veterinarian working in the slaughterhouse who alleged that some chickens in the facility probably had avian flu, and that it was confirmed on Friday that the chickens were indeed infected with highly pathogenic H5 subtypes.
The 660 chickens were in frozen storage in a slaughterhouse facility and were identified as being infected with the H5N2 and H5N8 strains of the virus, it said.
The bureau has ordered the slaughterhouse to conduct a complete disinfection of the abattoir following a 24-hour suspension of operations.
The bureau traced the origin of the infected chickens and found that they came from a chicken farm in Pingtung County’s Gaoshu Township (高樹), which is now empty.
The bureau urged local public health authorities to take measures to prevent the outbreak of avian flu, including disinfecting affected farms and surrounding areas.
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