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S Korea finds second bird flu case

A second bird flu case has been discovered among poultry in southwestern South Korea, sparking fears that avian influenza might be spreading in this country, health authorities said yesterday.

The new outbreak was confirmed at a duck farm in Jeongeup, about 250km southwest of Seoul, where half of its 12,500 ducks have died since Monday, the agriculture ministry said.

The farm is 27km from a chicken farm where this year’s first bird flu outbreak was confirmed three days earlier.

“All the ducks there will be immediately culled and buried” said Kim Chang-seob, chief veterinary officer of the ministry.

Other ministry officials said workers would cull about 6,500 of the 12,000 or so ducks at the farm yesterday.

Further tests were required to determine if the virus was the H5N1 strain of bird flu.

“In normal circumstances, we’ll wait for the test results which will be available on Monday but we’ve decided to take action immediately,” he said.

The ministry has also imposed restrictions on the movement of some 1.8 million poultry being raised within a 10km radius of the Gimje duck farm. It has also banned distribution of 3.6 million animals within a 10km radius of the farm and ordered the destruction of eggs produced and already distributed in the area

The country has had seven outbreaks of the H5N1 strain between November 2006 and March last year and has spent 58.2 billion won (US$59.17 million) on quarantine measures.

Last June the World Organization for Animal Health classified the country as free from the disease.
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