8 gene segments quickly announced: Jin Chuanchun's epidemic prevention at the emergency animal health institute, Cai Xiangrong says no rush, wait another week

Domestic outbreaks of both new and old highly pathogenic avian influenza continue to spread. The Taiwan Animal Society Research Association (abbreviated as the Animal Society) held a press conference this morning demanding that the Council of Agriculture disclose the 8 internal gene segments of each type of avian influenza virus in this outbreak. Chin Chuan-chun, a professor at the Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, who was invited to attend, based on monitoring of chickens and ducks at the Taipei poultry wholesale market a year and a half ago that found high-titer positive antibody reactions to H9N2 and the old-type H5N2, suspects that illegal vaccination in the poultry industry is widespread, and on this basis demanded that the Council of Agriculture publish the viral genetic information of the recently outbreak H5N8, old and new types of H5N2, and the new-type H5N3, in order to determine whether the source of the virus is natural evolution or human-made.

In response to the appeals of the Animal Society and Chin Chuan-chun, Tsai Hsiang-jung, director of the Council of Agriculture's Animal Health Research Institute, said that at this stage the priority of analyzing the 8 gene segments of avian influenza is not urgent, and that for specimens sent from various places, the priority remains analyzing the two external genes NA and HA to determine whether the avian influenza virus is the H5 subtype. As for the remaining 6 internal genes, colleagues have been tasked with beginning analysis, and it is expected to take another week before results are known.