January 23, 2007

South Korea to cull 386,000 poultry as fifth case of bird flu breaks out

South Korea has confirmed its fifth outbreak of bird flu in 3 months, this time at a poultry farm around 100 km from the capital Seoul.

All poultry within 3 kilometres from the outbreak site - a chicken farm in Cheonan, about 92 km south of Seoul - are set to be killed, said ministry official Kim Joon-gul, leading to the killing of 386,000 poultry as a precaution to prevent the spread of the disease.

Before the first case erupted in November last year, there had not been a case of bird flu in South Korea for 3 years.

Officials state that there is no case of human bird flu associated with the recent outbreak.

South Korea has begun slaughtering hundreds of thousands of birds after a fresh outbreak of H5N1 strain of bird flu, said the Agriculture Ministry.

The most recent outbreak resulted in a cull involving approximately 273,000 poultry.

The Ministry suspects migratory birds might have caused the latest outbreak, saying feces samples taken from wild ducks in two reservoirs near the chicken farm were tested positive for the bird flu virus.