South Korea's ills

Bird Flu Outbreak In Quail Farm In South Korea


An outbreak of H5N1 bird flu was confirmed at a quail farm in Kimje, South Korea, say officials from the Ministry of Agriculture.

The farm has 270,000 quail. Authorities are currently removing the quail from the farm and have set up a quarantine zone around the area to stem the spread of the disease. All poultry within 500 meters of the farm will be destroyed, say officials.

This is be the country's third outbreak in one month. On November 18th and November 26th there were two outbreaks in two separate chicken farms - both farms are within a 22 km radius of the infected quail farm.

So far, no humans have become ill, say ministry officials.

Approximately 3,000 quail died of bird flu during the weekend.

Since 2003 over 5 million poultry have been destroyed in South Korea, in measures to prevent the spread of bird flu.

Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Republic of Korea (English version)

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today