Bird flu hits South Korea
South Korea was forced to cull 292,000 broilers and 100,000 ducks due to an H5N8 virus outbreak reported last month, informs Avicultura magazine. The outbreak was reported on farms located in the North Jeolla region, in the southwest of the country. The H5N8 strain was confirmed on November 28 in a national reference laboratory via an RT-PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction with Reverse Transcriptase) technique. The case was reported to the OIE at the end of November. On 1/11 two cases of H5N8 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza were reported in mandarin ducks in the northwest and midwest regions of the country. The detections were made during a preventive survey carried out in resting areas of migratory birds.
In Asia alone, in November, the OIE reported outbreaks of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Japan (330,000 broilers were affected) and Laos (1,539 birds). Since the beginning of November, the OIE has issued more than 30 notifications of outbreaks of Avian Influenza in 17 countries. The outbreaks are distributed across Europe, Eurasia, Africa and Asia, with many notifications related to wild and sea birds. In Germany alone, more than 30 outbreaks have already been reported in the states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg, Brandenburg and Lower Saxony. The virus was confirmed also in Denmark, Ireland, Belgium and the UK.
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