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With the latest outbreaks in Seoul and Busan, avian influenza has now spread throughout virtually the entire country. More than 6.8 million chickens and ducks have been culled so far. Bird flu may have become "indigenous" not only in rural areas, but in major cities in Korea. "Indigenous" means that the virus has mutated to become completely adapted to the conditions of a particular region. If that is the case, then bird flu can break out at any time of the year, regardless of foreign sources of infection such as migratory birds. That's what happened in Southeast Asia, and China has entered this phase as well.
Once it is indigenous, it becomes impossible to prevent the spread of bird flu by culling poultry near infected areas. When the virus spread to humans back in 1997 and killed six out of 18 infected people in Hong Kong, the government there had to cull its entire chicken population of 1.5 million. In Korea, around 1,000 poultry farms raise 9.5 million ducks and 120 million chickens.
But quarantine officials are not doing enough. In Songpa-gu in southeastern Seoul where bird flu has been confirmed, residents have been raising 8,200 chickens and ducks in efforts to secure lucrative compensation payments from developers who purchase their land for construction projects. But the Seoul city government and the Songpa-gu district office had no idea such farms existed. Until last month, the National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service, which is Korea's only agency that can determine bird flu infections, had only one official in charge of bird flu detection.
At this rate, not only chickens and ducks, but pigeons, sparrows and other wild birds may get infected too. If that happens, then the entire public must live in fear of possibly contracting the deadly virus.
First, we must investigate the transmission route of avian influenza among ducks across the country. Chickens die just three to four days after contracting the virus. But ducks have a lengthy incubation period before they show symptoms of avian influenza and this makes it essential to conduct a comprehensive investigation on the route of infection. You cannot come up with measures without first knowing how far the disease has already spread.
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