Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Taiwan Reports First Ever Occurrence Of H5N3 Bird Flu On Duck Farm

August 6, 2013
Taiwan has notified the World Organization of Animal Health (OIE) of it’s first ever detection of H5N3 avian influenza virus, a low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI).

The outbreak occurred on a “meat-type” duck farm in Yuli, Hualien county.  The virus was isolated from swabs taken from the farm July 16 and confirmed by the nationallaboratory Aug. 2, according to the OIE.
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However, in domestic poultry, infection with avian influenza viruses causes two main forms of disease, distinguished by low and high virulence. The so-called “low pathogenic” avian influenza (LPAI) commonly causes only mild symptoms (e.g. ruffled feathers, a drop in egg production) and may easily go undetected.
The highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) form is far more dramatic. It spreads very rapidly through poultry flocks, causes disease affecting multiple internal organs, and has a mortality that can approach 100%, often within 48 hours. Currently only some strains of viruses of the H5 and H7 subtypes are known to cause the highly pathogenic form of the disease in poultry.

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