South Korea update

South Korea's disease control agency confirmed Friday that five people have developed antibodies to the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu after taking part in the slaughtering and disposal of infected chickens and ducks.

The five people tested positive for bird flu antibodies, but none of them have shown symptoms of the disease as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said.

There is no chance they could spread the disease to others, it said, adding the workers were probably exposed to the bird flu virus in late 2003 through March 2004. The announcement raises the number of South Koreans that developed antibodies to the H5N1 strain to nine.

The state-run agency confirmed four cases in February. "There are no public health risks and no need for people to not consume poultry or eggs," a KCDC spokesman said. The affected people were given the antiviral drug Tamiflu beforehand to guard against infection. People close to the five have also been checked and none have been found to be infected, he added.


South Korea remains a bird flu clean zone and people were free to eat chickens, ducks and eggs, the spokesman said.

In 2003-2004, South Korea had to dispose of a large number of chickens and ducks when the H5N1 strain swept through the country.

The South Korean government destroyed 5.3 million birds in the outbreak at a cost of about 1 trillion (US$1.04 billion) won to prevent the spread of the disease.

The latest discovery was made as it cross-examined blood serum from about 2,109 people who took part in the cleanup operations.

Of these, 142 people who ran the most risk were tested in 2004, while 318 who were less likely to have been infected were screened in 2005.

No South Koreas have fallen sick or died from the H5N1 strain of the virus so far, but the flu has killed people in such countries as Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Seoul, Sept. 15 (Yonhap News)