H5N1 returns to South Korea

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Source: CCTV.com | 11-27-2006 10:51

A poultry farm in South Korea has been hit by a highly pathogenic form of bird flu. This is the country's first outbreak in three years of H5N1.

The highly contagious strain of bird flu killed six thousand chickens at a farm in the country's southwest.

The remaining six thousand or so poultry and dogs on the farm have all been killed, as have all poultry and dogs within a 500 meter radius to the farm.

South Korea's Center of Disease Control and Prevention has begun testing nearby farmers to see if the virus may have been passed to humans. So far, no infections have been found.

Between December 2003 and March 2004, about 400,000 poultry at South Korean farms were infected with bird flu.

During that outbreak, the country killed 5.3 million birds in an attempt to prevent the disease from spreading.

Testing indicated at least nine South Korean workers involved in the mass cull were infected with the H5N1 virus, none developed any major illnesses.

Editor:Sun Luying