Bird Flu Spread To Five South Korean West Coast Locations
Recombinomics Commentary
November 27, 2006
In Yangpyeong, a chicken farm owner reported that 800 of his 1,700 chickens have died since November 21. The local government of Gyeonggi Province commissioned the National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service for an inspection of this farm and found out that low pathogen AI was also the cause for this case. Technically, this low pathogenic bird flu is not classified as avian influenza, as it is non-virulent and not harmful to humans
The above characterization of the deaths of almost 50% of a flock in a matter of days as being "low path" avian influenza that wasn't avian influenza, captures the absurdities being printed in media reports coming out of Korea in the past few days.
The above outbreak appears to be the fifth in a matter of days. Thus far, four of the five outbreaks have been characterized as low path, but no serotypes have been given and the number of dead chickens has been 200, 510, 800, and 1000 at the four "low path" locations.
Now wire service reports are reporting another suspected high path outbreak near the index farm, strongly suggesting that most or all of the low path outbreaks will be high path H5N1 and cover a significant portion of the western coast of South Korea.
More specifics on the serotypes and sequences of the bird flu in these multiple locations in South Korea would be useful.
Media sources
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