South Korea reports new avian influenza case at regional farm

Seoul, Dec 22 (IANS) South Korea has confirmed its 14th case of highly pathogenic avian influenza for the season at a farm near the capital city of Seoul, authorities said on Sunday.

The latest case was detected at a poultry farm in Hwaseong, just south of Seoul, which is raising 202 chickens and 67 wild geese, according to the agriculture ministry, reports Yonhap news agency.

To prevent further the spread, officials have taken measures to control access to the farm to carry out investigations, and culled the affected chickens and wild geese.

The Gyeonggi provincial government plans to conduct inspections on 18 poultry farms in Gimpo, 38 kms west of Seoul, by Tuesday.

Last week, the country confirmed another case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (AI) for the season at a duck farm in the southwestern region. The latest case was detected at a duck farm in the county of Buan in North Jeolla Province, some 190 kilometers south of Seoul, according to the authorities.

Meanwhile, California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in response to the outbreak of Avian influenza A (H5N1), commonly known as bird flu, which has infected 34 people in the Golden State.

According to the governor’s office, this action came as cases were detected in dairy cows on farms in Southern California, “signaling the need to further expand monitoring and build on the coordinated statewide approach to contain and mitigate the spread of the virus.”

To date, no person-to-person spread of bird flu has been detected in California and nearly all infected individuals had exposure to infected cattle.

Bird flu was first detected in the US in the wild bird population in South Carolina in January 2022, and in the wild bird population in California in July 2022.

—IANS

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