No human H5N2 bird flu infections reported: official
ROC Central News Agency
2014/05/02 21:39:56
Taipei, May 2 (CNA) No evidence of any bird-to-human transmission of the highly pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza virus has surfaced, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said Friday as it confirmed an H5N2 case that was detected last month in a wholesale poultry market in Taipei.
The COA's Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine reported that it was the first H5N2 case to be recorded at a wholesale poultry market in the country, and the eighth across the nation, with the rest all occurring at poultry farms.
Asked whether the H5N2 virus can infect humans, Chang Su-san, director of the bureau, said that the H5N2 subtype is often reported in poultry, but no human infections of the virus have been reported thus far.
Since the COA imposed a ban on the slaughter of live fowl in traditional markets in May 2013, the task of slaughtering Taiwan's chickens has been carried out by a total of 79 slaughterhouses nationwide. Only healthy chickens that have passed a health examination are accepted by the slaughterhouses, Chang said, assuring the public that it is safe to consume chicken.
(By Huang Chia-wen and Evelyn Kao)
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