Dead hens at an egg farm in Changhua County’s Fangyuan Township (芳苑) have been confirmed to have contracted the H5N1 avian influenza virus, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency said on Saturday, urging enhanced preventive measures during the peak period of winter bird migration.
The county’s Animal Disease Control Center has culled 13,375 hens at the farm and supervised its disinfection, the agency said.
Bird flu is mainly spread across borders by wild birds that carry the pathogens while migrating, it said.
Photo courtesy of the Changhua County Government
As it is the peak of seasonal bird migration in Taiwan, various winter visitors such as shorebirds, herons, whiskered terns or black-winged stilts continue to pop up in farms or wetlands in coastal areas, it added.
The first confirmed case of highly pathogenic avian influenza this year was in South Korea on Sept. 12, the agency said.
Taiwan is an indispensable stopover site for many migratory birds heading south during winter and is along their migration route from South Korea, it said, adding that if the South Korean case was associated with wild bird migration, it might increase the risk of a bird flu epidemic in Taiwan.
The risk of new bird flu cases would remain high for two to four weeks, the agency said.
Poultry farmers in coastal areas should enhance the bird protection facilities around their farms, and bolster biosecurity measures such as disinfection and access control, it said.
The agency said it has also asked local animal disease control authorities to implement enhanced preventive measures.
Personnel training would be conducted and disease prevention resources would be arranged from this month to next month, it said, adding that they would continue to monitor the number of wild birds.
From next month to March next year, hotspots prone to bird flu would be identified and disinfected to prevent potential epidemics and minimize transmission risk, the agency said.
Farmers should observe their poultry’s health every day and report any abnormality to local authorities, it said.
Those who are found to have failed to report abnormal situations would be fined up to NT$1 million (US$33,091) and would not be reimbursed for the culling of their poultry, it added.
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