South Korea Confirms Milder Bird Flu Cases Among Ducks
Date: 24-Dec-04
Country: SOUTH KOREA
Preliminary tests conducted at duck farms a day earlier pointed to a suspected outbreak of the H5N2 strain of avian flu, prompting neighbouring Japan to place a temporary ban on poultry imports from South Korea.
"Analysing a gene of the virus has confirmed a milder form of avian flu," a statement from the Agriculture Ministry said.
The hatchery is located in Kwangju, some 250 km (155 miles) southwest of the capital Seoul, and officals were examining neighbouring duck farms for further signs of the virus.
Three duck farms within a 500 metre (1,600 ft) radius of the affected area and other farms linked to the hatchery would be closely monitored for signs of the virus, the ministry said.
The virus type, identified as H5N2, was different from the highly contagious H5N1 type that hit South Korea and Southeast Asia previously, the ministry said on Wednesday, adding that no ducks had died and they had not shown slower egg-laying rates.
Milder forms of the avian flu virus have frequently been found in migratory birds in South Korea every year since 1996, although this was the first case found among ducks at a hatchery.
South Korea confirmed 19 cases of the highly contagious H5N1 strain at poultry farms between December, 2003 and March this year.
The outbreak resulted in a mass cull of poultry in an attempt to stop the virus spreading, hitting local chicken and duck restaurants, and halting South Korea's modest poultry exports to Japan, Hong Kong and China.
Certain strains of bird flu can be lethal to humans, although no human case has ever been found in Korea. The virus has an incubation period of four to five days.
Japan's Health Ministry said on Wednesday that at least one person had been infected with the bird flu virus after an outbreak among chickens in February, marking the first human infection of the bird flu virus in Japan. But it said there was no chance that this person would infect others.
The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed 32 people in Vietnam and Thailand this year.