Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 10 (Xinhua) -- South Korea reported on the 9th that it had confirmed cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza in two chicken farms. This brings the number of poultry farms with cases of avian influenza detected in the country since December to six.
Yonhap News Agency quoted South Korea's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food as reporting that the newly reported chicken farms with confirmed cases of avian influenza are located in Gimje City, Jeollabuk-do, South Korea, and Asan City, Chungcheongnam-do, with the former raising about 160,000 chickens and the latter raising about 30,000 chickensThe former was detected with the H5N1 avian influenza virus.
Health authorities have locked down chicken farms, implemented measures including culling of poultry, and issued a 36-hour shutdown order.
On December 31, 2010, staff work on epidemic prevention at a chicken farm in Cheonan, South Korea, where it was confirmed to be infected with avian influenza. Xinhua News Agency.
South Korea** raised the alert level for avian influenza from "Cautionary" to "Severe" on the 1st of this month after wild birds were found infected with the H5N1 avian influenza virus in the southwestern city of Jeonju.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture said that the first case of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in poultry this winter was detected at a duck farm in Heunggo-gun, Jeollanam-do on the 3rd, and it was the second time in about eight months that poultry were infected with avian influenza in South Korea. Health authorities locked down the farm and implemented anti-epidemic measures, including culling more than 20,000 ducks raised there and imposing a 36-hour shutdown.
Since then, a duck farm in Muan-gun, Jeollanam-do and two poultry farms in Iksan, Jeollabuk-do have confirmed cases of avian influenza.
To curb the spread of the virus and detect cases early, South Korea has stepped up measures, including more frequent testing of chickens and ducks on local farms for avian influenza viruses and in-depth inspections of about 430 duck farms across the country that are considered susceptible to avian influenza. (Qiao Ying).