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LEAD: S. Korea confirms 1st human cases of avian influenza
(Kyodo) _ (ADDING DETAILS, BACKGROUND) South Korea said Friday it has confirmed its first human cases of bird flu infection, but the four people in question have not developed any symptoms of the disease.
The state-run Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention said the four had been involved in slaughtering sick poultry between late 2003 and early 2004.
More than 5.3 million birds in South Korea were culled then following confirmation of the virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu as the cause of poultry deaths at three farms. South Korea announced control of the otbreak in September 2004 and has since been considered disease-free.
But the disease control center only learned of the infection of the four workers after their blood samples underwent more accurate testing in the United States and came back positive for avian influenza.
Outbreaks of the virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu in birds began in Southeast Asia in mid-2003, and have since killed at least 79 people there, in addition to eight in China, four in Turkey and one in Iraq, according to World Health Organization figures.
South Korea is among nine Asian countries that have reported bird flu outbreaks in poultry. The others are North Korea, Japan, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Of these, Japan and South Korea have controlled their outbreaks, while Malaysia, which had been considered free of bird flu for more than a year, recently detected new cases in poultry.
Scientists fear the H5N1 bird flu virus could mutate from a disease that largely affects poultry to one that can pass easily between people.
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060224/kyodo/d8fvb71o0.html
(Kyodo) _ (ADDING DETAILS, BACKGROUND) South Korea said Friday it has confirmed its first human cases of bird flu infection, but the four people in question have not developed any symptoms of the disease.
The state-run Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention said the four had been involved in slaughtering sick poultry between late 2003 and early 2004.
More than 5.3 million birds in South Korea were culled then following confirmation of the virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu as the cause of poultry deaths at three farms. South Korea announced control of the otbreak in September 2004 and has since been considered disease-free.
But the disease control center only learned of the infection of the four workers after their blood samples underwent more accurate testing in the United States and came back positive for avian influenza.
Outbreaks of the virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu in birds began in Southeast Asia in mid-2003, and have since killed at least 79 people there, in addition to eight in China, four in Turkey and one in Iraq, according to World Health Organization figures.
South Korea is among nine Asian countries that have reported bird flu outbreaks in poultry. The others are North Korea, Japan, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Of these, Japan and South Korea have controlled their outbreaks, while Malaysia, which had been considered free of bird flu for more than a year, recently detected new cases in poultry.
Scientists fear the H5N1 bird flu virus could mutate from a disease that largely affects poultry to one that can pass easily between people.
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060224/kyodo/d8fvb71o0.html
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