Number of bird flu-hit poultry farms rises to 487

[ScarTissue]

Number of bird flu-hit poultry farms rises to 487

Central News Agency
2015-01-27 03:44 PM

Central News Agency

Taipei, Jan. 27 (CNA) Another 19 poultry farms in Taiwan have been confirmed infected with avian influenza, bringing the total to 487 farms across the island, quarantine authorities said Tuesday.

As of 6 p.m. Monday, 240 farms had been detected with a new strain of H5N2, another 8 with the old H5N2 subtype, 18 with H5N3, and 135 with H5N8, according to the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine of the Council of Agriculture.

Another 56 farms were found infected with both H5N2 and H5N8, two farms had both H5N2 and H5N3, and 19 had other subtypes of the H5 avian flu virus. The remaining nine farms on the bureau's list were confirmed to be infected with H5 viruses but the subtypes have yet to be identified.

The majority are goose farms, it added. (By Yang Shu-min and Y.F. Low)