Published Date: 2004-01-01 23:50:00
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Avian influenza - Taiwan ex mainland China: susp.
Archive Number: 20040101.0001

AVIAN INFLUENZA - TAIWAN ex MAINLAND CHINA: SUSPECTED
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A ProMED-mail post
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Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2003
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: Reuter's AlertNet, 31 Dec 2003 [edited]
<http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/TP196803.htm>

Taiwan says ducks smuggled from China had bird flu
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Taiwan reported its first case of a highly contagious bird flu on
Wednesday, but said 6 ducks smuggled from mainland China that had tested
positive had been destroyed.
The cabinet's Council of Agriculture said it was closely monitoring the
situation to prevent avian influenza -- which in rare cases can be deadly
to humans -- from spreading in Taiwan.
"The ducks had been destroyed. They were not sold to the market or entered
into any local farms," the council said in a statement.
The ducks, smuggled from China and found on the water near Taiwan's
front-line island of Quemoy earlier in December 2003, were infected with
the H5N1 virus that hit Hong Kong in 1997, it said. Smuggling of people
and goods across the narrow Taiwan Strait is rampant. Taiwan and China have
been bitter political rivals since they split in a 1949 civil war.
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[According to recent OIE statistics, HPAI (Highly pathogenic avian
influenza), which is an OIE list A disease, has never been reported in
Taiwan (Taipei, China). Official confirmation and details on the
pathogenicity of this H5N1 isolate are needed. - Mod.AS]

See Also

Avian influenza - South Korea (02): OIE 20031213.3049
Avian influenza - China (Hong Kong): OIE 20030120.0186
Avian influenza - China (Hong Kong): OIE (02) 20030126.0236
2000
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Avian influenza, denied - China 20000608.0923
...................mpp/arn/pg/jw
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