Seoul (AsiaNews/Agencies) – In just over a week, South Korea killed 771,000 chickens in a bid to prevent the spread of bird flu, which recently re-emerged in the country after three years.
The culling of birds started at the end of November after the authorities discovered two outbreaks of the disease in some breeding farms in the south-west. The stricken area, currently in quarantine, is called Iksan. Health ministry officials are slaughtering poultry at all farms within a three-kilometre radius of the outbreaks. More than 400 pigs and dogs have also been killed in the containment area.
A year ago, the South Korean government declared itself free of bird flu after destroying more than five million ducks and chickens. While there have been human infections in South Korea, the country has reported no deaths.
Since it appeared for the first time in Asia three years ago, the H5N1 has killed 153 people worldwide. It is feared that the virus could mutate into a form that easily transmissible among humans. Experts have warned that human-to-human transmission, never ascertained to date, could spark a pandemic that would claim millions of lives.
