SKorea suspects bird flu after thousands of chickens die
Pastor Dale Morgan
Thursday November 23, 12:59 PM
*SKorea suspects bird flu after thousands of chickens die*
South Korea has reported a suspected bird flu outbreak after 6,000
chickens on a poultry farm died in three days -- the first suspected
cases since the country declared itself free of the disease last December.
The agriculture ministry ordered the culling of the remaining 6,000
birds on the farm in the city of Iksan, 250 kilometers (155 miles) south
of Seoul, and enforced a quarantine within a 10-kilometer radius.
The ministry sent an emergency supply of Tamiflu for 50 people and
influenza vaccines for another 300, it said in a statement.
Kim Chang-Seob, the ministry's chief veterinary officer, said the
government received word of the outbreak Wednesday, and from the large
number of deaths suspected the virus may be a virulent strain.
The ministry was expected to confirm details on the virus late Saturday,
after samples were analyzed at state labs.
The ministry has been on high alert as migratory birds that can spread
the deadly disease flocked to the country for the winter.
South Korea was the first country to report avian flu when the latest
outbreaks, the largest and most severe on record, began in Asia in mid-2003.
From December 2003 to March 2004, it destroyed 5.3 million ducks and
chickens at a cost of 150 billion won (now 161.3 million dollars) and in
December last year declared itself free of the virus.
The World Health Organisation has also said it considered South Korea
free of the disease.
In September this year, health officials said five South Koreans had
been infected by the H5N1 virus two years ago while helping slaughter
birds, but had shown no symptoms.
It was only the second known incidence of human infection in South
Korea. In February, four people were confirmed to have been infected
with H5N1, but they also showed no symptoms.
Last month, the agriculture ministry announced tough measures aimed at
preventing a winter outbreak of bird flu, which has caused more than 150
human deaths since 2003, but none in South Korea.
It said it would step up quarantine and monitoring to prevent imports of
infected birds, and closely watch domestic duck and chicken farms.