Taiwan in chicken cull after bird flu outbreak

Taiwan's authorities said Saturday they had culled nearly 58,000 chickens following the latest outbreak of the less virulent strain of bird flu.

The chickens were culled last month and in December in two farms in central and southern Taiwan after some tested positive for the H5N2 strain of bird flu.

The Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said in a statement that the outbreak had been contained as none of the chickens in the areas have shown signs of the disease since the cull.

Taiwan reported its first outbreak of H5N2 in 2004 but has remained clear of the potentially fatal H5N1 strain of the virus.