Bird flu H2N5 found in chicken in New Taipei

The China Post news staff--A market in New Taipei City was closed yesterday for disinfection after a chicken sample collected there was found to be H5N2 positive, officials said.

But the city officials maintained that the avian flu virus was determined to be of low pathogenicity, and that the chicken came from outside of New Taipei City.

The Cabinet's Council of Agriculture (COA) will trace the origin of the chicken, the officials said.

The sample was collected from the Defu market, a major chicken market in New Taipei City's Sanchong District, as the city stepped up monitoring poultry products after an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N2 was reported in Taiwan.

The COA, after conducting tests on the sample, informed the city government on March 22 that the chicken was infected with H5N2, the officials said. Read More