Taiwan’s smoldering avian flu outbreak spread in an entirely new direction this week as Taitung County Animal Epidemic Protection Station (AEPS) confirmed Monday that the highly pathogenic H5 virus has been found in chickens on a small farm near Taitung City.
The virus outbreak, which had been gradually making its way north county by county along the west coast, now has spread across the Central Mountain Range to the east coast. Health authorities ordered the culling of all birds on the farm Monday evening.
Director of the Taitung County AEPS said that all of the 150 guinea hens on the farm were to be culled Monday night, and all related government agencies will continue to monitor land fowl farms in the Taitung area.
