Rise in suspected bird flu cases stokes worries

Avian influenza seen spreading northward

By Nam Hyun-woo

The current avian influenza epidemic is showing signs of spreading northward, with flocks of migrant ducks found dead in South Chungcheong Province, Friday.

According to the provincial government, more than 20 Baikal teals were found at Sapgyo Lake in Dangjin. The birds are suspected to be the vectors for the spread of bird flu.

The lake is some 140 kilometers from Dongrim Reservoir in Gochang, North Jeolla Province, where some 60 infected Baikal teals were found dead earlier this week.

Authorities suspect the birds may have been infected with the H5N8 strain and are conducting lab tests to confirm their suspicions.

“The authorities have conducted necropsies on the ducks and their findings are consistent with avian influenza,” said Joo Ie-seok of the Animal, Plant and Fisheries Quarantine Agency (QIA).

Experts say if tests on the ducks found at Sapgyo Lake are positive, the damage will likely be enormous. Under current regulations, all ducks at farms within a 3-kilometer radius of a farm affected by H5N8 have to be slaughtered.

There are approximately some 2.3 million ducks and chickens being raised in some 50 farms in a 10-kilometer radius around the lake.

Further downstream of the Geum River, in the middle of Dongrim Reservoir and Sapgyo Lake, a handful of teals, a black coot and several swans were found dead Wednesday. The QIA said the birds were also infected by H58N.

Quarantine authorities fear that the strain may spread along the travel route of migratory birds, from Dongrim to other habitats located north.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said that the number of Baikal teals observed at the Dongrim Reservoir has decreased to 80,000 from 200,000 during the Jan. 21 to 23 period, while the birds sighted downstream on Geum River has more than doubled ― from 100,000 to 220,000 ― during the same period.

Following these observations, the ministry issued a lockdown measure, banning the movement of poultry, vehicles and farm workers within a 10-kilometer radius from where the dead ducks were found.

Meanwhile, the ministry said lab tests for avian influenza in ducklings distributed to 24 farms in North Chuncheong Province from a breeding farm in Gochang, North Jeolla Province, were negative. The Gochang farm was the first to report the outbreak of avian influenza.

Some 430,000 ducks at 32 farms have been culled so far, out of a planned 472,000.