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S Korea reports suspected bird flu case
SEOUL (Thomson Financial) - A South Korean duck farm has reported a suspected bird flu outbreak, prompting sterilization by health officials, the Agriculture Ministry said Tuesday.
'Health officials have been sterilising a farming village in Jincheon where ducks showed symptoms of infection by avian influenza,' a ministry spokesman said.
The local authorities have sealed off the farm, 90km south of Seoul, and are awaiting the results of blood tests, he said.
South Korea reported seven cases of infection by the H5N1 strain of bird flu between November 2006 and March this year, hitting its poultry exports to Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and elsewhere.
But in June the World Organisation for Animal Health classified the country as free from the disease.
About 13,000 ducks were culled last month in Gwangju, 330km south of Seoul, after health officials discovered a low-virulence H7 strain of avian influenza.
The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed more than 200 people worldwide since late 2003. No South Koreans have yet contracted the disease.
SEOUL (Thomson Financial) - A South Korean duck farm has reported a suspected bird flu outbreak, prompting sterilization by health officials, the Agriculture Ministry said Tuesday.
'Health officials have been sterilising a farming village in Jincheon where ducks showed symptoms of infection by avian influenza,' a ministry spokesman said.
The local authorities have sealed off the farm, 90km south of Seoul, and are awaiting the results of blood tests, he said.
South Korea reported seven cases of infection by the H5N1 strain of bird flu between November 2006 and March this year, hitting its poultry exports to Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and elsewhere.
But in June the World Organisation for Animal Health classified the country as free from the disease.
About 13,000 ducks were culled last month in Gwangju, 330km south of Seoul, after health officials discovered a low-virulence H7 strain of avian influenza.
The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed more than 200 people worldwide since late 2003. No South Koreans have yet contracted the disease.
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