Korea reports additional highly pathogenic bird flu case

In this 2020 file photo, quarantine officials prepare to cull ducks from a poultry farm in Jangseong, South Jeolla Province, after the highly pathogenic avian influenza broke out there. Yonhap

South Korea confirmed another case of highly pathogenic avian influenza at a local duck farm in the southwestern region, the sixth of its kind this season, the agriculture ministry said Saturday.

The farm in Gangjin, a county about 400 kilometers south of Seoul, was discovered to have poultry infected with H5N1 in the process of regular inspections of it birds, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

The authorities are culling around 24,000 ducks being raised there as a preventive step and have been implementing other quarantine measures while cordoning off the farm, it added.

Avian influenza is very contagious among birds and can cause severe illness and even death, especially in domestic poultry. (Yonhap)