Travelers should avoid contact with birds or poultry and should take care to avoid eating undercooked poultry while in these countries to protect their health, CPC officials said. Citing a recent notice passed on by Taiwan's representative office in the United Kingdom, the officials pointed out that three wild swans recently found dead on Chesil Beach in Dorset, southern England have been confirmed to have been infected with the virulent H5N1 bird flu virus.

In South Korea, an outbreak of the less virulent H7N3 bird flu virus was reported last December, they went on, adding that bird flu outbreaks have also been reported in Saudi Arabia, Poland and Benin recently.

These five countries are not listed by Taiwan as non-infected areas of the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus, and Taiwan has not imported any live poultry or poultry meat from these areas, the officials said.