Kim Chang-sup, an official for South Korea’s Agriculture Ministry, confirmed the fourth outbreak of the deadly bird flu virus strain H5N1 so far this year.  This latest outbreak occurred on a farm in Yeoungam, about 236 miles southwest of Seoul, and resulted in the preventive slaughter of about 470,000 chickens and ducks farmed within a roughly 2-mile radius from the farm.

The current slaughter brings the number of birds eliminated to about 1.3 million so far this year.  The first outbreak this year was reported earlier this month, with three other outbreaks soon following.  There are an additional six suspected outbreaks of the virus and tests to identify the strain of the virus are under way.

South Korea lost close to 2.8 million birds from November 2006 and March 2007 in outbreaks on seven poultry farms.

The World Health Organization reports at least 239 deaths from the H5N1 bird flu virus occurring since 2003, almost all of which were caused by humans coming in contact with infected birds.

It is very difficult for humans to catch this form of flu virus but public health officials worldwide fear the virus could mutate and develop the ability for human-to-human infection.  The fear is the mutated virus could be quickly spread around the world via wild migratory birds, sparking a catastrophic flu pandemic.

Source: International Herald Tribune