Fear grows on rapid spread of bird flu

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

National

Sun, December 10, 2023 | 08:59

Health & Science

Fear grows on rapid spread of bird flu

Posted : 2017-06-06 19:43

Updated : 2017-06-07 10:03

By Lee Kyung-min

About 120,000 chickens and ducks near 21 poultry farms on Jeju Island were culled after they were confirmed to be infected with a highly pathogenic H5N8 strain, the government said Tuesday.

The southern island is where a suspected case was reported on June 2, the first in two months since early April. A record 37.8 million birds were culled from last November to that month, incurring 1 trillion won ($892 billion) in losses.

According to the municipal government, the farms were within 3 kilometers of three regions on the island that filed 59 reports about 301 chickens suspected of having bird flu, many of which tested positive for the virus.

This comes only a day after the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs raised the bird flu alert level to the maximum and ordered a nationwide transport ban and pre-emptive disinfection for all poultry farms and their equipment. The transport ban will be extended for another 24 hours starting Wednesday at midnight.

The culled chickens and ducks on Jeju are believed to have been transported from Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, the epicenter of the outbreak as almost 3,600 chickens from there were transported across the country.

Of them, 1,000 were sent to Jeju, 600 to Busan, 500 to Gyeonggi Province, and 450 to Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, all of which have confirmed bird flu cases. About 160 chickens were unaccounted for, raising concern about further spread of the outbreak in other regions that have yet to report suspected cases.

The ministry vowed to investigate poultry farmers over their suspected failure to promptly report possible bird flu cases, fearing financial losses.

It added disinfection efforts will continue, in cooperation with the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) and regional governments.

Meanwhile, Seoul Grand Park in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, the largest zoo in the country, said it shut down part of its bird watching programs as a precautionary measure. The park said it would carry out cleaning and disinfection procedures and conduct confirmation tests regularly.

Last winter, the park, housing 13 species of 195 birds designated as Korea's natural heritage as well as endangered species, shut down for 104 days after three dead birds were later proven to have been infected with H5N6.

At the time, the park officials, with the approval of the Cultural Heritage Administration, even culled 101 mandarin ducks to prevent a possible spread of the virus to other species there, a measure deemed inevitable but a bit extreme given they were among only 20,000 living worldwide.

According to KCDC, the likelihood of human infection is low, but it cannot be ruled out completely.

While infections in early summer are considered unusual as viral transmission is highly affected by temperatures and humidity, concern is growing over a possible mutation which would make it less vulnerable to such factors.

lkm@ktimes.com