March 8, 2007

New bird flu outbreak reported at breeding farm in South Korea

Bird flu has been confirmed at a chicken breeding farm in Cheonan, 92 km south of Seoul,the South Korean Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said Thursday.

This is the seventh highly virulent bird flu outbreak confirmed in the country since Nov. 25 last year. The November outbreak was the first in three years and was reported on a poultry farm in Iksan, about 230 km south of Seoul.

The latest bird flu outbreak was reported on Feb. 10 in Anseong, about 15 km away from Cheonan.

In 2003 and 2004, South Korea culled more than 5 million poultry to curb the spread of the disease. No humans were said to have caught the disease in South Korea.