- Hello Jeff - We do not know how extensively the bird
flu, H5N1, is in North Korea. As we know, North Korea at first refused
to admit bird flu had broken out...which may well have allowed H5N1 to
spread even more.
-
- I also wonder why NO ONE is bringing up the fact that
the WSN/33 human influenza genes have been found in pigs in South Korea.
-
- IF H5N1 spreads south into South Korea and hits the WSN/33
infected pigs, the pandemic might begin.
-
- The World Health Organization has NOT made a determination
on the WSN/33 pigs.
-
- Patricia Doyle
-
- S Korea Ready To Help N Korea Contain Bird
Flu
-
- 3-30-5
-
- (Reuters) -- South Korea is ready to help North Korea
contain its bird flu outbreak, government officials said on Monday [28
Mar 2005], and a local analyst said the reclusive state probably could
not battle the virus alone.
-
- In an official media report on Sunday [27 Mar 2005],
North Korea confirmed an outbreak of bird flu at 2 chicken farms in the
capital Pyongyang. It said hundreds of thousands of birds had been culled
in the country, which has suffered from severe food shortages.
-
- "We are willing to offer help if a request comes
from the North," a South Korean government official said by telephone.
Seoul will also take preventive measures to make sure the virus does not
spread south of its border with North Korea.
-
- An official with the World Health Organization said the
group had been contacted by Pyongyang about the outbreak, and they would
coordinate work on counter-measures.
-
- It was not clear whether the strain of virus involved
was H5N1, which has been known to jump from birds to humans. That strain
has killed 49 people since 2003. The North's state media said no humans
had been infected. "We do not know yet what strain it may be, but
it could be the H5N1 strain," said Dr. Kumara Rai, director of communicable
diseases for WHO in its Southeast Asia region.
-
- The WHO has an office in Pyongyang, Rai said, adding
the North moved effectively to counter SARS when it swept through Asia
and other parts of the world in 2003. He was encouraged by early reports
that the North had eradicated poultry. "This is a good sign that they
are moving quickly," Rai said by telephone from his office in India.
-
- Kim Young-hoon, a senior fellow at the state-run Korea
Rural Economic Institute in Seoul, said the outbreak may have gotten out
of hand, and the North had gone public to get international help. "North
Korea came to admit the bird flu cases to receive international help. Based
on the North's announcement, we also suspect North Korea has reached the
stage that they could not control the disease any more," Kim said.
-
- South Korean unification, health and agriculture ministry
officials are discussing Seoul's response. The response will probably include
tightening quarantine measures on visitors and vehicles from the South
returning from North Korea, another official said.
-
- There are 2 main points of contact where South Koreans
can head to the North. The 1st is a joint industrial complex just north
of the demilitarized zone, and the 2nd is a mountain resort in the North
operated by a South Korean venture. South Korean businesses operate factories
in the North Korean city of Kaesong, a fledgling industrial complex 10
km (6 miles) north of the heavily militarized border, the Demilitarized
Zone. Kaesong is also less than 200 km south of Pyongyang.
-
- South Korea's Hyundai Asan corporation runs a resort
at Mount Kumgang, just north of the border on the east coast. The resort
has been visited by over 800 000 people since 1998.
-
- North Korea's confirmation came after reports by businessmen
working in the country of a likely bird flu outbreak in the secretive state.
That led Seoul to indefinitely suspend planned imports of North Korean
chicken. A 40-ton shipment scheduled to arrive on 17 Mar 2005 was to be
the 1st shipment.
-
- Japan, which had been importing small amounts of North
Korean poultry, has also suspended imports. An Agriculture Ministry official,
who declined to be named, said that North Korean poultry exports were a
way for it to gain foreign currency and help its moribund economy.
-
- South Korea had 19 confirmed cases of the H5N1 strain
between December 2003 and March 2004, but no human infections.
-
- The 2 Koreas are technically at war, because the 1950-53
Korean War ended in a truce and not a full peace treaty.
-
- (With added comments from WHO and agricultural analysts;
additional reporting by Jon Herskovitz).
-
- [Hopefully, the common health threat will breed cooperation
between the 2 Koreas. Cooperation between neighboring countries-in-conflict
to control common zoonotic threats, such as rabies and Rift valley fever,
has been observed in the past in areas such as the Middle East. - Mod.AS]
-
- Patricia A. Doyle, PhD
- Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message
board at:
- http://www.clickitnews.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?
- Cat=&Board=emergingdiseases
- Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
- Go with God and in Good Health
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