Avian flu strain spreading fast

An official of the agriculture ministry’s livestock office looks at a map marked with suspected and confirmed cases of avian influenza at the Sejong Government Complex, south of Seoul, Monday. / Yonhap

Gov’t orders nationwide standstill, disinfection

By Jung Min-ho

The H5N6 avian influenza has appeared in an alarming number of fowls in Korea in just a month. Nearly 9 million chickens and ducks have already been slaughtered since Nov. 16 when the first case was reported.

In an urgent effort to contain the bird flu virus, the government has ordered a nationwide standstill and preemptive disinfection for all poultry houses and equipment.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said Monday it has ordered 89,000 places linked to the poultry industry, including farms and slaughterhouses across the country, to stay put from the beginning of Tuesday to the end of Wednesday, halting all deliveries of products or equipment.

Violators could face up to one year in prison or a maximum fine of 10 million won ($8,500) according to the domestic animal infectious disease control law.

In cooperation with the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) and regional governments, the ministry also plans to carry out nationwide disinfections during the period.

The order was issued immediately after a Cabinet meeting, in which Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn urged the ministry to take prompt, decisive action.

“Bird flu is spreading fast across the country, except for the Jeju area, raising serious concerns,” said Hwang, who is now in charge of state affairs after President Park Geun-hye was impeached Friday by the National Assembly. “The government needs to take strong measures and provide all possible resources at the right time to contain it.”

He urged health authorities to pay close attention to those carrying out the orders at the front as well as industry people, in case they get infected with the potentially lethal flu.

In China, 16 cases of human infections of H5N6 have been reported since 2014. Ten of those have died.

After analyzing the H5N6 virus found in China and Hong Kong, the Korean ministry said the one found here is not exactly same, noting it may have a slight genetic mutation.

At the moment, the KCDC believes the possibility of human infection is very low. To assess the risks more precisely, it has been conducting animal experiments.

The people in China who died of the virus had been infected directly by birds. No one has caught the disease from another human. The World Health Organization (WHO) also noted, “Human infections with the virus seem to be sporadic with no ongoing human-to-human transmission.”

Aside from health concerns, however, financial damage seems inevitable to the poultry industry. With more than 1.5 million chickens and ducks set to be culled, the total number is expected to exceed 10 million soon.

Many are worried that the ongoing outbreak will get far worse than the one in 2014, when 13.96 million chickens and ducks were put down over 196 days.