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New outbreak
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Officials plan to slaughter tens of thousands of poultry after a new outbreak of bird flu was confirmed in central South Korea, an Agriculture Ministry official said Thursday. The outbreak _ the fourth in South Korea in a month _ was caused by a "highly pathogenic'' type of bird flu, but it remains unclear whether it was the virulent H5N1 virus, said Lee Joo-won, a ministry official. South Korea has slaughtered more |
than 1.13 million poultry during its three previous outbreaks in November and December in an attempt to keep the disease from spreading. The first two outbreaks were caused by the H5N1 virus, which the World Health Organization says has killed at least 154 people worldwide since 2003. Authorities also believe that H5N1 was responsible for the third outbreak, in which 365,000 quails and chickens were destroyed in Gimje, 257 kilometers (160 miles) south of Seoul. |
About 5.3 million birds were slaughtered in the last known outbreak in South Korea in 2003. Infections among people have usually been traced to contact with infected birds, but experts fear the virus could mutate to a form easily transmitted between people, possibly triggering a human pandemic.-AP |
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