April 6, 2005

First H7 bird flu strain in North Korea

The H7 strain of the bird flu virus has been detected in North Korea, presenting a new situation for experts in the region as previous outbreaks involved only the H5N1 strain.

Hans Wagner, a bird flu expert with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, said it was still unclear how pathogenic the virus involved in the North Korea case was, and investigations to find out where the virus came from would be carried out.

North Korea has already culled 219,000 birds at three farms and the virus was reportedly contained for the moment. So far no human infections have been reported.