Korea reports additional highly pathogenic bird flu case
South Korea confirmed another case of highly pathogenic avian influenza from a local duck farm in the southwestern region, the sixth of its kind this season, the agriculture ministry said Saturday, according to local sources.
The farm in Gangjin, a county about 400 kilometers south of Seoul, was discovered to have a highly pathogenic strain of H5N1 in the process of regular inspections on its poultry, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
The authorities are culling around 24,000 ducks being raised there as a preventive step and have been implementing other quarantine measures while cordoning off the farm, it added.
Highly pathogenic avian influenza is very contagious among birds and can cause severe illness and even death, especially in domestic poultry.