Published Date: 2006-12-19 00:00:00
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Avian influenza (218) - South Korea
Archive Number: 20061219.3562
AVIAN INFLUENZA (218) - SOUTH KOREA
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Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: FAO NEWS RELEASE 06/150 [edited]
<http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2006/1000466/index.html>
A 9-person team from the joint FAO/OIE Crisis Management Centre (CMC)
is in the Republic of (South) Korea on a 10-day mission collecting
epidemiological data from rural areas south of the capital, Seoul,
where 3 recent outbreaks of avian influenza in domestic poultry
occurred.
At the invitation of the Korean government and in cooperation with
the country's chief veterinary officer, the CMC experts have been
asked to help throw light on the risk of further spread of the
disease among birds in the country itself and throughout the region.
The Korean authorities are taking care of all control and containment
activities related to the outbreaks.
The CMC team includes international and Korean veterinary
epidemiologists, wildlife veterinarians, biologists and poultry
specialists who will pay particular attention to the relationships
between poultry production, marketing and wildlife sectors to gather
information that is necessary to better understand potential disease
movement among chickens and risks to or from wild birds. The team
will be looking at any wild bird deaths on infected farms or adjacent
wetlands, as well as collecting environmental samples that may lead
to a better understanding of disease emergence in the area.
Besides the wild bird angle, the CMC experts hope to investigate many
other potential risk factors, such as the handling of sick and dead
birds, eggs and manure, the role that fencing, cages, vehicles and
water might have played as sources of infection or virus maintenance
mechanisms in the natural environment. While in the country, the CMC
team will liaise with all relevant government ministries and
institutions, and with other U.N. agencies.
By the end of the mission, scheduled for 21 Dec 2006, the team hopes
to be able to provide answers to some of the questions surrounding
the mechanisms of disease introduction and spread, and to offer some
insights into the potential for spread of the disease to other
countries in a region already hard hit in recent years by highly
pathogenic avian influenza.
The Korean mission is the 1st full-scale multidisciplinary team
deployment to be mounted by the CMC since it was officially launched
on 12 Oct 2006 at FAO headquarters in Rome.
--
John Riddle
Media Relations, FAO
<john.riddle@fao.org>
[FAO and OIE should be congratulated for the launching of this
multidisciplinary, essential experts' consultancy. Results of the
mission's observations and recommendations are anticipated with
interest. - Mod.AS]
Avian influenza (217) - South Korea, EU 20061211.3495
See Also
Avian influenza (216) - South Korea: H5N1, OIE, conf 20061128.3374Avian influenza (215) - South Korea: 2nd outbreak 20061128.3371
Avian influenza (214) - South Korea: H5N1 conf 20061125.3357
Avian influenza (213) - South Korea: H5N1, OIE, susp 20061125.3356
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