| Summary |
Taiwan located in the way of waterfowl migration in North-Esia. There are several thousands of birds visiting Taiwan in winter every year. We have surveyed the highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses in wild birds since 1998. In 2002, a total of 2,722 fecal samples including 72.7 ﹪(1,980) from ducks (Anatidae) and 21.7﹪(592) from shorebirds (Scolopacidae and Charadriidae), were collected from wild birds in Taiwan for virus isolations. The surveillance regions contains Kinmen (750 samples), Yilan (530), Tainan (912), Taipei (417), Gahyi (41), and other regions (72). Eighteen viruses were isolated from those samples. Thirteen out of 18 viruses were identified to be influenza viruses, containing 4 subtypes (H10, H4, H6 and H3) of HA antigens. In additition, 5 lentogenic strains of newcastle disease virus were identified. However, all of avian viruses isolated were nonpathogenic.
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| Keyword |
Avian influenza, Orthomyxovirus, Virologic surveillance, HA and NA subtypes, Wild birds
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