The Hong Kong Poultry Flu Outbreak

“Poultry influenza,” which broke out in Eumseong-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do on December 5, has been confirmed to be the same virus that caused the “Hong Kong poultry flu.”

Accordingly, Korea is not safe from the Hong Kong poultry flu, and the export of chickens will be banned, causing a huge economic loss.

The National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service and the National Institute of Health (NIH) confirmed on Monday that the influenza virus, A/H5N1, was the cause of the recent death of 21,000 chickens in Eumseong-gun.

Since the virus A/H5N1 also caused the Hong Kong poultry flu, the route of infection and the influence effects on living creatures are likely to be the same.

The NIH will send a sample of the virus to the Center for Disease and Control (CDC) to verify whether it could affect humans. If the test is positive, then the poultry influenza will be confirmed to be the same strain as the Hong Kong poultry flu.

“In case the virus is almost exactly the same as the Hong Kong poultry flu but differs by a gene, then the virus will not be passed to humans,” said Jeun Byeo-ryul, Director of NIH. “The final decision will be made when the test result comes back.”

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry announced that the export of chickens has been banned since December 12. The ban will be lifted once there is no outbreak reported six months from the last outbreak incident.

This year, the export of chickens amounted to $7.75 million.

jinhup@donga.com daviskim@donga.com