Six ducks nearly smuggled into Taiwan from China in December were found to be infected with a virus that is very similar to the virulent H5N1 avian flu strain that has caused havoc throughout the region.
The case raised fears that Taiwan, which to date has only suffered from a milder strain of the flu, was still threatened by its more potent cousin.
The Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine yesterday confirmed that its latest tests proved the avian influenza carried by six ducks, which were abandoned by a smuggling ship off the waters of Kinmen's Hsiyuan in early December, was 96 percent identical to the H5N1 virus that has led to the deaths of eight people in Vietnam.
http://www.etaiwannews.com/Taiwan/2004/02/02/1075687006.htmA Comminist OP?
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