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Taiwan initiates migratory bird monitoring to prevent H1N1 spread
2009/09/04 23:01:10
Taipei, Sept. 4 (CNA) The Council of Agriculture initiated a migratory bird monitoring program Friday to prevent the spreading of the influenza A (H1N1) virus through birds and poultry, two weeks after the virus was found in turkeys on two farms in Chile.
Huang Kuo-ching, deputy director of the COA's Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, said the serological surveillance will last until April 2010, which is when the migratory season for birds ends.
The bureau will take serum samples from at least 2,000 migratory birds, he added.
Although no pigs or birds in Taiwan have been found to be infected with the H1N1 virus, the COA is taking precautionary measures against the possible spreading of the virus by migratory birds.
The COA official said that many black-faced spoonbills flying into wetlands in southern Taiwan for the winter have arrived, and his bureau has started collecting bird excretions for examination and taking serum samples from poultry farms.
If the H1N1 virus is found, the bureau will expand the surveillance program to all poultry and pig farms within a radius of three kilometers of where the infection was found.
According to a report by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the H1N1 influenza virus found in turkeys in Chile corresponds to the same H1N1 virus strain that has been circulating in Chile this winter.
The Chilean turkey cases have caused global concern of possbile cross-infection of human beings, animals and birds, which could exacerbate the epidemic, Huang said
2009/09/04 23:01:10
Taipei, Sept. 4 (CNA) The Council of Agriculture initiated a migratory bird monitoring program Friday to prevent the spreading of the influenza A (H1N1) virus through birds and poultry, two weeks after the virus was found in turkeys on two farms in Chile.
Huang Kuo-ching, deputy director of the COA's Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, said the serological surveillance will last until April 2010, which is when the migratory season for birds ends.
The bureau will take serum samples from at least 2,000 migratory birds, he added.
Although no pigs or birds in Taiwan have been found to be infected with the H1N1 virus, the COA is taking precautionary measures against the possible spreading of the virus by migratory birds.
The COA official said that many black-faced spoonbills flying into wetlands in southern Taiwan for the winter have arrived, and his bureau has started collecting bird excretions for examination and taking serum samples from poultry farms.
If the H1N1 virus is found, the bureau will expand the surveillance program to all poultry and pig farms within a radius of three kilometers of where the infection was found.
According to a report by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the H1N1 influenza virus found in turkeys in Chile corresponds to the same H1N1 virus strain that has been circulating in Chile this winter.
The Chilean turkey cases have caused global concern of possbile cross-infection of human beings, animals and birds, which could exacerbate the epidemic, Huang said
