AlaskaDenise
In Memoriam
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20061222171426&irec=0
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]SEOUL (AP): Asian countries scrambled Friday to limit the spread of bird flu following a fresh outbreak among poultry in South Korea, as health officials remained uncertain over whether human deaths from bird flu in Indonesia have permanently dropped. [/FONT]
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South Korean quarantine officials killed 15,000 poultry on a duck farm after the fourth bird flu outbreak in less than a month. The remaining 7,000 ducks on the farm were to be slaughtered by Friday, said Im Seung-bum, an official at South Chungcheong Province.
The Agriculture Ministry confirmed that the outbreak at the farm in Asan, about 92 kilometers (57 miles) south of Seoul, was of the H5 strain but said they still needed further tests to determine whether it was the deadly N1 type.
South Korea has had three outbreaks of the H5N1 bird flu virus at chicken and quail farms since November, resulting in the slaughter of more than 1 million poultry in an attempt to keep the disease from spreading.
In Vietnam, some poultry farmers have been unwilling to comply with the government-ordered cull, endangering other flocks and themselves.
Some 6,000 chickens and ducklings have died of the H5N1 birdflu strain in the past two weeks in Ca Mau and Bac Lieuprovinces, in the first reported cases of the virus in Vietnam in a year.
At least 154 people have died from H5N1 worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Most of those who died came into direct contact with infected birds, but experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that becomes easily passed among people, potentially sparking a human pandemic.
Indonesia, which was the worst hit by the H5N1 virus, also initially balked at slaughtering birds in infected areas and vaccinating flocks, citing lack of funds. International experts have accused the country of not doing enough to tackle the virus.
But it recently launched a large-scale public education campaign, including TV commercials urging people to wash their hands after coming into contact with poultry and to report sick or dying birds to authorities.
The aggressive campaign paid off as the human bird flu deathsin Indonesia have slowed markedly over the last three months but the World Health Organization said it was too soon to draw conclusions.
.
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]SEOUL (AP): Asian countries scrambled Friday to limit the spread of bird flu following a fresh outbreak among poultry in South Korea, as health officials remained uncertain over whether human deaths from bird flu in Indonesia have permanently dropped. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]
South Korean quarantine officials killed 15,000 poultry on a duck farm after the fourth bird flu outbreak in less than a month. The remaining 7,000 ducks on the farm were to be slaughtered by Friday, said Im Seung-bum, an official at South Chungcheong Province.
The Agriculture Ministry confirmed that the outbreak at the farm in Asan, about 92 kilometers (57 miles) south of Seoul, was of the H5 strain but said they still needed further tests to determine whether it was the deadly N1 type.
South Korea has had three outbreaks of the H5N1 bird flu virus at chicken and quail farms since November, resulting in the slaughter of more than 1 million poultry in an attempt to keep the disease from spreading.
In Vietnam, some poultry farmers have been unwilling to comply with the government-ordered cull, endangering other flocks and themselves.
Some 6,000 chickens and ducklings have died of the H5N1 birdflu strain in the past two weeks in Ca Mau and Bac Lieuprovinces, in the first reported cases of the virus in Vietnam in a year.
At least 154 people have died from H5N1 worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Most of those who died came into direct contact with infected birds, but experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that becomes easily passed among people, potentially sparking a human pandemic.
Indonesia, which was the worst hit by the H5N1 virus, also initially balked at slaughtering birds in infected areas and vaccinating flocks, citing lack of funds. International experts have accused the country of not doing enough to tackle the virus.
But it recently launched a large-scale public education campaign, including TV commercials urging people to wash their hands after coming into contact with poultry and to report sick or dying birds to authorities.
The aggressive campaign paid off as the human bird flu deathsin Indonesia have slowed markedly over the last three months but the World Health Organization said it was too soon to draw conclusions.
.
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