South Korea confirmed the outbreak of bird flu

The Seoul government has confirmed that South Korean authorities have been forced to destroy thousands of ducks when the bird flu broke out for the first time in the country in the past eight months.

An official from the South Korean Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said the " culprit " of the outbreak of bird flu this time is the virus of the H7 strain " with low pathogenicity ". Until now, medical experts have yet to detect any cases in which the avian influenza virus has infected humans.

Chicken is sold at a store in Seoul in November 2006.(Photo: Alalam.ir)

According to an unnamed official, the latest bird flu has erupted in South Korea since March but was only confirmed on November 23. Quarantine officials destroyed about 17,000 ducks at the farm in Gwangju, about 330 kilometers southwest of Seoul.

During the period of November 2006 - March 2007, there were seven deadly outbreaks of H5N1 bird flu on farms across Korea, forcing authorities to destroy about 2.8 million birds and Poultry. South Korea announced it had escaped the bird flu in June after no new outbreaks for three months.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), since the H5N1 strain of bird flu has re-emerged in 2003, hundreds of millions of infected birds and poultry have died or been destroyed. 206 people around the world also died from H5N1 infection.

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