March 17, 2014

In order to curb the bird flu outbreak that has hit farms and migratory birds nationwide, South Korea has culled over 6% of poultry in the country, government officials said.

That brings the total number of farm birds slaughtered to 10.16 million, close to a record 10.2 million during an outbreak in 2008, according to data from the agriculture ministry.

Despite no human infection has been reported, a dog has tested positive for bird flu antibodies, suggesting it had been exposed to the disease without being infected, the ministry said in a statement.

In the past 10 years, South Korea has had four bird flu outbreaks, without any cases of human infection reported.

Sales of chicken in one of Seoul's largest markets dropped by more than half on average last month in the wake of the latest outbreak, according to a ministry official. No nationwide data is available.

On January 17, South Korea's first case of H5N8 bird flu - different from the strain that has caused human deaths elsewhere in Asia - was found at a duck farm in North Jeolla province, around 300 kilometres (186 miles) southwest of Seoul.

The ministry also said that about 28 poultry farms across the nation have been hit by the disease.

South Korea has been stepping up disinfection measures for migratory birds, the suspected source of the present outbreak, at 37 sites across the country. It also curbed the movement of some livestock workers in affected areas.