H5N1 Spread to South Korean Duck Farm
Recombinomics Commentary 13:34
April 5, 2008
Of the 10,000 ducks on the farm, half have died since Monday. The farm is located 27 kilometers away from a chicken farm that was hit by avian influenza earlier this week.
The above comments describe the spread of H5N1 to a duck farm in South Korea. Although the declaration of high path H5N1 for this outbreak has not yet been announced, there is little doubt that the H5N1 is the Uvs Lake strain of H5N1, as was seen in late 2006 at farms in the same area.
The region is on a migratory bird flyway, as seen by the path of tagged whooper swans which summer in Mongolia and fly to South Korea for the winter. In 2003/2004 this region was positive for H5N1 as was Japan. The H5N1 was a precursor for the Qinghai strain which was subsequently found in a massive wild bird outbreak at Qinghai Lake in May 2005, which was followed by wild bird outbreaks at Chany Lake in Russia and Erhel Lake in Mongolia in the summer of 2005. In the summer of 2006 there was a similar wild bird outbreak at Uvs Lake in Mongolia, and this strain was subsequently found on farms in South Korea as well as feces in areas frequented by migratory birds.
Although H5N1 was not reported in late 2007 or early 2008 in either South Korea or Japan, the current outbreak at chicken and duck farms signs the silent spread of H5N1 into South Korea and Japan at the end of 2007 and the migration of these birds back to Mongolia at this time.
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