Chickens Infected with Bird Flu Smuggled from China
Interfax China
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Shanghai (China):
Taiwanese authorities announced the discovery of smuggled chickens infected with bird flu on a ship allegedly from mainland China Friday.
The announcement fueled concerns as to the extent of infection of the highly contagious H5N1 virus in China, where few reports have emerged in recent months.
Although there has been no bird flu outbreak confirmed in Taiwan to date, the Chinese government announced a bird flu outbreak in Inner Mongolia Wednesday, which it said is under control. China is the largest producer of poultry in the world.
The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations has called the bird flu out break in Asia "endemic," and says it will take years, if ever, to eliminate.
Du Wenzhen, a senior official with the Animal Quarantine Team of the Taiwan Agriculture Committee Animal and Plant Quarantine Bureau told Interfax that there has been no outbreak of bird flu on the island of Taiwan, but the authorities have discovered a cargo ship carrying smuggled chickens from the mainland infected with bird flu.
"We were quite surprised to find the disease in the smuggled chickens, since we have not received any information of bird flu cases in the Mainland recently," she said.She said that the Taiwan authorities are working on the case to find out where specifically the infected chickens are from.
Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, a World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson in Beijing, said the WHO was looking into media reports that the avian flu virus has been found in poultry from the mainland.
"We are still investigating the information and trying to obtain information about the possible source," Bhatiasevi said.The Ministry of Agriculture of the PRC Wednesday evening announced a new outbreak of bird flu in northern Inner Mongolia. The authority has killed at least 2,600 birds at a poultry farm there, but which is now under control, according to the government.However, since the announcement of bird flu outbreak in Inner Mongolia on Wednesday, there have been no updates on the situation there, or in other regions of China, either by local media or the government.
Oct 22, 2005
Interfax China
___________
Shanghai (China):
Taiwanese authorities announced the discovery of smuggled chickens infected with bird flu on a ship allegedly from mainland China Friday.
The announcement fueled concerns as to the extent of infection of the highly contagious H5N1 virus in China, where few reports have emerged in recent months.
Although there has been no bird flu outbreak confirmed in Taiwan to date, the Chinese government announced a bird flu outbreak in Inner Mongolia Wednesday, which it said is under control. China is the largest producer of poultry in the world.
The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations has called the bird flu out break in Asia "endemic," and says it will take years, if ever, to eliminate.
Du Wenzhen, a senior official with the Animal Quarantine Team of the Taiwan Agriculture Committee Animal and Plant Quarantine Bureau told Interfax that there has been no outbreak of bird flu on the island of Taiwan, but the authorities have discovered a cargo ship carrying smuggled chickens from the mainland infected with bird flu.
"We were quite surprised to find the disease in the smuggled chickens, since we have not received any information of bird flu cases in the Mainland recently," she said.She said that the Taiwan authorities are working on the case to find out where specifically the infected chickens are from.
Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, a World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson in Beijing, said the WHO was looking into media reports that the avian flu virus has been found in poultry from the mainland.
"We are still investigating the information and trying to obtain information about the possible source," Bhatiasevi said.The Ministry of Agriculture of the PRC Wednesday evening announced a new outbreak of bird flu in northern Inner Mongolia. The authority has killed at least 2,600 birds at a poultry farm there, but which is now under control, according to the government.However, since the announcement of bird flu outbreak in Inner Mongolia on Wednesday, there have been no updates on the situation there, or in other regions of China, either by local media or the government.
Oct 22, 2005
