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on to the latest on the bird flu outbreak here in korea...
the number of confirmed cases ison the up -and-up raising fears the virus may have spread
nationwide. kwon soa has the latest. fears of a nation
wide bird flu outbreak in korea are growing .
authorities have confirmed that the number of poultry farms that have ducks infected
with the highly pathogenic h5n8 strain of avian influenza has risen to four.
the farms are in buan and gochang in jeolla buk-do.
the same strain of the virus was confirmed in a group of dead wild ducks found in a reservoir
near a poultry farm in gochang on monday. officials say this increases the chance that
migratory ducks are the source of the bird flu outbreak and more specifically a type
of duck called the baikal teal which is said to be flying into the country from russia
for the winter. if they are confirmed as the source of the
virus it could spread or may already have spread to other areas in the southern part
of the country and beyond. korea has a total of 37 wintering sites for
migratory birds. as a preventive measure the ministry of environment
has said it will track the baikal teal's route via gps.
the ministry of agriculture food and rural affairs has decided to kill all poultry within
5-hundred meters of the infected farms and has expanded the number of sterilization locations
with the help of the military and police. 2-hundred-thousand poultry have been culled
so far. meanwhile with h5n8 making its first appearance
in the nation there have been questions about whether the virus can be transferred to human
s. health authorities say that there has never
been a case of h5n8 in humans in the world .
food products are also said to be safe because there is hardly any chance that the infected
products have or will enter the market and even if they do the virus is destroyed once
cooked at 75 degrees celsius for at least five minutes.
nevertheless sales of poultry products have dropped significantly over the last couple
of days. kwon soa arirang news.