Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Korea: Bird Flu Discovered In Teal Ducks

 

 


# 5183

 

 

Each winter, countless thousands of migratory birds make their way south from Mongolia, Siberia, and parts of China to over-winter on the Korean peninsula and in Japan.

 

In recent weeks we’ve been hearing of a small number of migratory birds being discovered in Japan, and to a lesser extent, in Korea (both are part of the East-Asian Flyway) with bird flu.  

 

 

image

 

Today, via Yonhap News, we learn of 20 teal ducks – found dead in Haenam - that have tested positive for a virulent (probably, but not stated to be H5N1 in this report) bird flu virus.  This is the third such discovery in a month, according to this report.

 

 

2010/12/28 17:04 KST

Dead teal ducks with bird flu strain found in S. Korea

 

SEOUL, Dec. 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's farm ministry said Tuesday that it has found 20 dead spectacled teal ducks, apparently affected by the virulent strain of bird flu, and have taken emergency decontamination measures.

The discovery of the dead birds in Haenam 430 kilometers south of Seoul is the third such finding this month and is raising concerns among local poultry farmers.

 

I’ve mapped the three main locations below, which are clustered near the end of the migration path for many of these birds.

 

Korea Japan

 

Dutchy on FluTrackers has a thread with a couple of more translated news accounts, that identifies the strain as H5N1. 

 

You can follow that thread here.