By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
Authorities have issued the highest level of alert for avian influenza after the virulent bird flu hit Seoul.
The move comes as the virus found at an aviary in Gwangjin, eastern Seoul, was confirmed to be the H5N1 strain that can be deadly to humans.
It is the first case of the disease in the capital since an outbreak April 1 in southwestern Jeolla Province. At the aviary, two pheasants were found dead on April 28 and later one turkey and two chickens. All other birds in the aviary were culled.
Health inspectors from Gwangjin ward said that five residents reported symptoms similar to those of human bird flu including a high fever, but concluded that they had not been infected by the virus after a medical checkup.
``There have been a number of people complaining of fever after the news of the bird flu. But most were sent home as the symptoms were not as serious as those for bird flu,'' a ward official said.
The Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised citizens with typical symptoms of the disease such as high fever, difficulty in breathing and headaches to have a medical checkup at a hospital or public health center.
South Korea has stocks of the bird flu vaccine, Tamiflu, for 1.4 million people, or 2.6 percent of the population, but no preventive vaccine.
For its part, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said that it has taken precautionary quarantine measures to prevent the flu from spreading further.
With the cooperation of other quarantine authorities, the city government has shut down the aviary and limited access to a nearby children's park and traditional open market where the dead pheasants were purchased by the aviary.
But the city government admitted that quarantine measures in a big city are more complicated than those in rural areas where poultry farms are concentrated.
``It's almost impossible for us to close a certain area or road as we do in a rural areas,'' a city official said. ``But as Seoul has no poultry farms, we believe it is highly unlikely that the avian flu will spread further.''
The ministry said the confirmation of bird flu in Seoul brings the total number of outbreaks to 34 out of 60 reported since April 1.
Meanwhile, the authorities launched emergency quarantine measures on two poultry farms in Daegu as samples from dead chickens at the farms displayed a positive reaction in a test for avian influenza.
At the two farms, a total of 145 chickens have died. After the test result, the authorities also immediately killed 50 other chickens there.