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2007-9-3 23:21:00 |
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A fifth case of bird flu has been reported in South Korea, Reuters cited a government official as saying Saturday, prompting health officials to worry that earlier measures taken to control the virulent bird flu had been ineffective. The latest outbreak occurred at the a poultry farm in Chonan, South Chungcheong province, 90 km or 55 miles south of the Capital, Seoul. In response, health officials are preparing to slaughter about 270,000 chicken and other poultry within a 500-metre radius of the infected farm. Hundreds of thousands of birds had been culled since last November when the H5N1 bird flu reappeared in South Korea after a three-year absence. No human case of bird flu was reported associated with the latest outbreak. The highly pathogenic bird flu has been discovered in about 50 countries and regions since 2003. At least 260 people worldwide have been infected so far and more than 150 of them died from the disease, according to World Health Organization. |
