April 7, 2008

South Korea reports of suspected bird flu case in southwest region

South Korea said Monday it is investigating a suspected outbreak of bird flu in the nation's southwest.

Meanwhile, quarantine efforts to prevent the spread of the bird flu in a nearby chicken farm last week continue, Yonhap news agency reported.

The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said that it has received a report from a chicken farm in Gobu, North Jeolla Province, that around 700 chickens have died recently.

The farm, located just 3 kilometers away from a duck farm in Jeongeup, where an outbreak was reported late last week, has been rearing a total of 18,000 chickens, the ministry said, adding that it is currently investigating whether the deaths are related to bird flu.

The case in Gobu brought the number of farms that have reported outbreaks of bird flu to four so far this year.

The four, including those in Gimje, Jeongeup and Sunchang, are all concentrated in the South Korea's

southwestern region, Yonhap said.