December 28, 2011

The Taiwanese government is stepping up its monitoring system following recent reports of swine-origin H3N2 virus in the US and H5N1 avian influenza virus in Hong Kong, a health official said Tuesday (Dec 27).

According to reports, the two viruses did not spread outside the countries and the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) is taking precautionary measures out of concern for the public's safety, said Chuang Jen-hsiang, director of the CDC.

US public health officials recently became aware of a case of H3N2 human infection in a child from the state of West Virginia, Chuang said.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong's secretary for food and health announced a week ago that a dead chicken found in a wholesale poultry market had tested positive for the H5N1 virus.

The trading of live poultry in Hong Kong was immediately suspended for 21 days, and all 17,000 chickens at the wholesale market were culled.