- SEOUL (Reuters) - Nearly
a million chickens and ducks will be slaughtered across South Korea to
combat a highly contagious strain of bird flu that has spread across the
country and could also infect humans, the government said on Monday.
-
- Avian influenza, which in rare cases can be deadly to
humans, has caused poultry sales to tumble as authorities confirm outbreaks
at farm after farm across the country.
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- "To contain the spread of the diseases, we have
decided to conduct intensified disinfection measures," a statement
from the agriculture ministry said on Monday.
-
- Since authorities last Monday confirmed the first bird
flu among chickens at a farm 80 km (50 miles) southeast of Seoul, cases
have since been discovered at eight more poultry farms. Six other farms
are being tested for suspected infections.
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- Faced with the rapid increase in cases, agriculture authorities
have raised slaughter targets to about 950,000 birds among the 100 million
chickens and eight million ducks in the poultry sector.
-
- So far, one third of the target poultry stocks have been
destroyed by gassing, and later buried.
-
- Prime Minister Goh Kun said the government should err
on the side of caution and cull as many birds as necessary.
-
- He cited the example of the Netherlands, which slaughtered
around 26 million birds -- or more than half the poultry population --
after a an outbreak of avian influenza was discovered in February.
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- "Working with the resolve that we may have to destroy
one third of the total poultry population is one way to contain the disease,"
Goh told agriculture ministry officials.
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- MINISTRY INTERVENES IN MARKET
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- South Korean consumers have shunned poultry and the country's
modest exports to Japan, Hong Kong and China have virtually stopped, prompting
authorities to support prices.
-
- The farm ministry stepped in to buy 2.5 million chickens
after producer prices plunged by 30 percent to 693 won/kg ($0.581) from
early this month.
-
- Hit by falling poultry demand, South Korea's biggest
two poultry producers, Halim and Maniker, both saw their share prices fall
in Monday's trade.
-
- The ministry said the disease had spread over the past
week through the transport, before the disease was diagnosed, of chickens
and ducks from infected breeding centers.
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- Authorities are now monitoring all of the country's duck
hatcheries and slaughter houses, intensifying disinfection measures and
restricting the transport of birds.
-
- They are also investigating migratory birds as a possible
cause of the fast spread of the disease.
-
- Icy winter weather has hampered efforts by troops, firefighters
and police to contain the disease, spread by a virus that is more active
in lower temperatures.
-
- In a bid to show boiled meat is safe for consumption,
agriculture minister Huh Sang-man joined and civic groups for a poultry
lunch on Monday, following similar events last week.
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- Korean authorities have asked U.S. experts for help in
determining whether the latest virus is genetically similar to the H5N1
variant of avian influenza that killed six people in Hong Kong in 1997
and 1998.
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- Hundreds of people living in the affected areas have
been given blood tests, although no one has shown symptoms of the disease.
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- ($1=1193.0 Won)
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