South Korea: Detection of H5N8 influenza virus in ducks

The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Industry of Korea has confirmed that the bird flu virus detected at a duck farm is a highly pathogenic strain of H5N8.

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According to the agency, on January 17, duck farm owners in Gochang County, North Jeolla Province reported an increase in the number of naturally occurring ducks and a significant drop in spawning rates.

Photo: wikipedia

After analyzing the genetic structure of the virus, on January 18, the ministry confirmed that the virus discovered this time is not H5N1 as it was discovered in Korea (December 2003 - December / 2011) but the H5N8 bird flu virus.

The H5N8 virus has a different genetic structure than the H5N1 virus but has similar symptoms. The virus was discovered in China in 2010 but has not recorded any cases of human infection.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Industry of Korea said it had buried 20,000 ducks on the farm and has yet to find any other signs in the vicinity of the farm as well as 24 farms. another bought ducks here.

The disease response team has been sent to 25 related farms (where ducks and ducks are bought) to delineate infected and detoxified poultry.