Photo courtesy of Pingtung County government

Taipei, Jan. 18 (CNA) An additional two poultry farms have been identified as infected with avian flu leading to the culling of 16,000 hens and 1,588 ducks, according to the Pingtung County government Thursday.

Information provided by the county indicates that four farms have been affected by avian flu so far this year.

The Pingtung County Animal Disease Control Center (ADCC) Thursday found positive samples of the H5 and H5N2 viruses at a hen farm in Jiadung Township and a duck farm in Shinyuan Township, respectively, according to the Pingtung County government.

ADCC personnel also instructed farmers on how to conduct disinfection work to reduce the risk of spreading the viruses while at the same time monitoring and sampling farms within one-kilometer radius of the infected poultry farms to identify any possible virus activity.

Huang Kuo-jung (黃國榮), Pingtung's Department of Agriculture head, said as winter is the peak period for bird flu, the county government is stepping up surveillance and disinfection of poultry farms in high-risk areas.

(By Kuo Chih-hsuan and William Yen)
Enditem/AW