WORLD / Top News
S.Korea slaughters poultry to stem bird flu spread
(AP)
Updated: 2006-11-26 15:04
SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korean quarantine officials on Sunday began
slaughtering more than 200,000 poultry after an outbreak of the deadly
H5N1 strain of bird flu at a chicken farm, the agriculture ministry said.
A total 236,000 poultry within a 500-meter (1,650-foot) radius of the
outbreak site in Iksan, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Seoul,
will be slaughtered to keep the virus from spreading, ministry official
Kim Chang-sup said.
The outbreak occurred last week, resulting in the deaths of 6,700
infected chickens. Another 6,300 were culled.
South Korea killed 5.3 million birds during the last known outbreak of
bird flu in 2003.
The H5N1 virus began ravaging Asian poultry stocks in late 2003 and has
killed at least 153 people worldwide.
So far, the disease remains hard for people to catch, and most human
cases have been traced to contact with infected birds. But experts fear
it will mutate into a form that is easily spread among people, possibly
creating a pandemic that could kill millions.
Also last week, a low-grade strain of bird flu killed 200 chickens in a
separate outbreak south of Seoul. The Agriculture Ministry said it was
not the H5N1 strain, which unlike most bird flu viruses is harmful to
humans.
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