February 2, 2004

 

 

Taiwan Ups Bird Flu Precautions

 

The Taiwan government said Friday that it would speed up bird flu testing following criticism of its slow and sloppy response to the discovery last month of a mild strain in dead ducks for sale at a Taipei market.

 

The announcement by the Cabinet's Council of Agriculture comes a day after it revealed that inspectors had discovered the flu in early December, but didn't deliver them for testing until Jan. 14.

 

"From now on, we must speed up the testing process - in other words, we must work extra hours, even on weekends and holidays," said Lee Ching-Lung, chief of the Cabinet's Council of Agriculture.

 

The council also apologized for incorrectly identifying the market in Taipei where the infected ducks were found.

 

The announcement came hours after the government said schoolteachers will begin checking children's temperatures to help prevent the bird flu virus from combining with other strains and forming a dangerous new hybrid that could spread among people.

 

Students from first grade through high school who have fevers will be ordered to stay home starting Feb. 10, when schools reopen following the Lunar New Year holiday, said Shih Wen-yih, deputy director of Taiwan's Center for Disease Control.

 

"The practice will continue until the flu subsides," Shih told reporters.

 

"We hope the measure (taking students' temperatures) will help control the human flu and ... also prevent the possibility of the two viruses combining," said Liao Kun-fu, another CDC official.

 

Of the 10 governments reporting infections, the bird flu has so far crossed over to humans only in Vietnam and Thailand, killing at least 10 people.

 

As a precaution, Taiwanese authorities have provided flu vaccines to thousands of poultry farm workers and cracked down on live fowl smuggled from China, where the virus has been detected, Liao said.

 

Taiwan this month ordered the slaughter of 95,000 chickens and ducks with a milder bird flu virus, H5N2, which has not jumped to humans. Vietnam and Thailand have the more virulent H5N1 strain.

 

Taiwan's stepped up vigilance against the bird flu follows criticism that it was slow in testing the flu samples from the Taipei market. The mass-circulation United Daily News said in an editorial Friday that the delay endangered consumers.