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Concerns grow as quarantines fail to halt flu

Two more suspected outbreaks reported on bird farms in Jeolla

April 15, 2008


	Owners of poultry farms in Jeongeup, Gimje and Iksan in North Jeolla, where there was an outbreak of bird flu yesterday, rally to demand compensation from the government for the slaughtering of their chickens and ducks. [YONHAP]

Despite expanded quarantine efforts, two more suspected cases of bird flu were reported in southwest Korea yesterday, heightening public concerns.
One case was reported each in South Jeolla and North Jeolla, where all 32 possible and confirmed cases have occurred since April 4, the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announced yesterday.
The virus kills poultry and has the potential to spread to humans, though that has never happened in Korea.
Although the agriculture ministry has been strictly restricting the movement of birds, vehicles and people within a 10-kilometer (6-mile) radius of any of the infected farms, along with conducting intensified disinfection operations, the spread of the flu has shown no sign of abating.
“I can’t totally understand why the bird flu has been spreading to other places even though the government has been doing quarantine operations,” said Lee Seong-do, 29, of Seoul. “I am worried about the spread of avian influenza because it can be transmitted to humans.”
According to the ministry, the latest potential cases happened in Hampyeong, South Jeolla and Iksan, North Jeolla.
The first confirmed outbreak of bird flu occurred at a poultry farm in Gimje, 241 kilometers southwest of Seoul.
Of the 32 cases reported, a total of 15 cases of H5N1 have been confirmed at 14 farms in Gimje and Jeongeup in North Jeolla, and one in Yeongam in South Jeolla.
The National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service is conducting tests in the other cases.
The results will be revealed Thursday, the service said.
The nonstop spread of avian influenza has resulted in the slaughter of more than 1.3 million ducks and chickens and the disposal of 30 million eggs, the government body said.
“According to our plan, we have killed all of the ducks and chickens within a three-kilometer radius of the bird flu sites in Jeongeup, Gimje and Yeongam,” said Kim Yong-sang, an official of the ministry.
“Also, we have killed all of the ducks within a 10 kilometer radius of the avian influenza locations in Jeongeup and Gimje.”
Korea has experienced bird flu outbreaks three times before. Millions of poultry were slaughtered in the winter of 2003-2004, in 2005-2006 and in the spring of 2007.

By Park Sang-woo Staff Reporter [spark@joongang.co.kr]

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