New bird flu outbreak in South Korea

  19 November 2016    Read: 1089
New bird flu outbreak in South Korea
South Korea has confirmed an outbreak of the highly-pathogenic H5N6 bird-flu virus, agriculture ministry officials said Friday.
Outbreaks were said to occur at two poultry farms in the central and southern parts of the country. Earlier this month the ministry reported the presence of the virus in the feces of migratory birds. A territory within 6.2 miles around the farms has been quarantined, to prevent the spread of the disease. Reportedly, some 62,000 birds were culled.

According to the ministry, the virus has not spread beyond the infected area. The arrival of this new viral subtype, especially as it can infect humans, is of considerable concern however, necessitating enhanced quarantine measures.

Since 2014, six people infected with H5N6 have died in China. Several cases of the H5N8 virus were recently been reported in Europe. In South Korea, the last outbreak of the H5N8 virus occurred in March at a duck farm. Earlier this month Rospotrebnadzor, the Russian agency for health and consumer rights, recorded 15 cases of the H3N2 virus strain of the disease, which originated in Hong Kong and has killed about a million people worldwide since 1968.

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