Bird Flu: Strike Three for Korea

Another bird flu virus epidemic hits Korea. This time in a small farm in Gimje, North Jeolla. Health officials have confirmed that the virus, which killed 4000 quails, belong to the H5 family and possibly the deadly N1 strain.

In response to the epidemic, 286,000 more quails are scheduled to be slaughtered to prevent spread of infection. Quarantine officials will also be killing 70,000 other poultry within a 500-meter radius of the outbreak site. Another 10-km radius alert will be put in place to monitor the other poultry’s health.

In 2003, Iksan, located in the same province, first confirmed presence of bird flu infection in the country. Last November of this year, Iksan experienced its second bird flu epidemic. Almost 770,000 birds have been killed from the two epidemics.

According to the World Health Organization, the deadly virus has already claimed the lives of 154 people worldwide. These people were reported to have come into close contact with infected birds.

Mutated strains of the lethal H5N1 avian flu virus could easily be transmissible between humans. WHO officials fear that these mutations could spark the next flu pandemic.

In humans, the virulent H5N1 strain causes fever, cough, sore throat, and muscle aches in mild cases and eye infections, pneumonia, severe respiratory diseases (such as acute respiratory distress), and other severe and life-threatening complications, in severe cases.

The Agriculture Ministry and North Jeolla Province officials stated, “At the moment, the outbreak at this farm does not appear to be related to the first and second cases in Iksan. But we need to investigate further.”

The province health officials are doing everything they can to curb the spread of the infection. Holding emergency meetings, evacuations and preparing quarantine guidelines are just among the practices being done to control the current situation.

Korea has already spent $48 million and killed a total of 5 million poultry in its fight against the deadly virus.