South Korea reports new suspected bird flu case
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea on Saturday reported a suspected outbreak of the H5 strain of bird flu at a farm in the southwest of the country, near another farm that authorities said earlier this week had an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain.
The farm ministry said the latest outbreak took place at a duck farm and it has yet to confirm if it is also the H5N1 strain. It expects to finish testing on Monday.
Workers on Saturday will cull about 6,500 ducks at the farm that was raising about 12,500 ducks in Jeongeup, which is 27 km (17 miles) from the farm that had the H5N1 outbreak, the ministry said.
On Thursday, the country confirmed the first outbreak of highly virulent bird flu in 13 months at a farm in Gimje, about 215 km (135 miles) south of Seoul, and started culling over 300,000 chickens and other poultry.
The ministry also banned distribution of 3.6 million animals within a 10 km radius of the Gimje outbreak site and the destruction of eggs produced, and already distributed, in the area.
The country has had seven outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu between November 2006 and March 2007 and has spent 58.2 billion won ($59.17 million) on quarantine measures.
Bird flu has killed 238 people globally since 2003, according to the World Health Organisation.
It largely remains an animal disease, but the big concern is that it could mutate into a disease that easily passes from one person to another, triggering a deadly global pandemic.
(Reporting by Kim Yeon-hee; Editing by Jon Herskovitz)
