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Loophole in Bird Flu Quarantine

Posted April. 15, 2008 03:08,   

한국어

Amid a series of reports regarding suspected outbreaks of the H5N1 bird flu, the government confirmed that ducks infected with the virus had been illegally taken out from the quarantine zone.

The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announced on Monday that it is thoroughly investigating a possible outbreak of the bird flu at a chicken breeding farm in Iksan, North Jeolla Province, and a duck breeding farm in Hampyeong, South Jeolla Province. Both cases were reported on Sunday.

In regards to the chicken farm, doubts have risen over quarantine management as the farm in Iksan was visited by a retail dealer who had been in contact with bird flu-infected ducks.

According to the ministry and the Gimje Police Station, the 37-year-old dealer identified only by his surname Park had sold the H5N1 positive ducks to a restaurant in Geumsan-myeon, Gimje, on Saturday from a farm located in Yongji-myeon, Gimje, which was included in the alert zone after a suspected outbreak had been reported there.

Park bought 600 ducks from the farm between April 4 and 6, and sold some 40 of them to a duck seller, identified only by his surname Kim, who then sold them to a restaurant attached to the farm in Gimje.

The farm in question was located within the alert zone, about 1.7 kilometers away from another farm where the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu was detected for the first time. Movements of poultry have been under strict control in the area.

The probe found that Park sold 360 ducks among the remaining 560 to some 20 restaurants in six cities and districts including Jeonju, Gimje, Buan and Jeongeup, and buried the remainders.

After meeting Park, Kim visited restaurants and chicken breeding farms several times. Among those places, the restaurant in Geumsan and the chicken farm in Iksan have each reported suspected outbreaks of bird flu.

A total of 32 cases of suspected outbreaks of bird flu have been either reported or found as of Monday, and 15 of them had been confirmed so far.



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