South Korea's agriculture ministry on November 10 has raised warning over H5N8 bird flu as it confirmed the presence of the significantly pathogenic H5N8 strain in tests conducted with samples of wild birds found in the country's central west
H5N8 Bird Flu strain discovered in South Korea
According to an article by the Straits Times, the agriculture ministry said in a statement that scientists found out in samples collected from wild birds that these winged-species carry the bird flu strain.
The samples were collected in Cheonan-si, Chungcheongnam-do, about 84 kilometers (52.2 miles) central west of Seoul.
Although there are still no reports about H5N8 infection to humans, the virus can also affect poultry production, as stated by NHS UK.
South Korea agriculture ministry response to H5N8 bird flu virus
The South Korean agriculture ministry has scaled up counter-measures to contain a more extensive spread of the bird flu strain and raised alarm over an exceedingly pathogenic avian flu. There are expanded risks the infection will spread.
Agriculture Ministry Kim Hyeon-Soo encourages exhaustive implementation of quarantine measures at nearby ranches, like daily sanitization of farmyards.
A worker disinfects chickens transported to a chicken slaughtering factory on May 4, 2006, in Xining of Qinghai Province, China. Surveillance has been stepped up in Qinghai Province following the discovery of a dead wild goose carrying the bird flu virus in Gangcha County. The Ministry of Agriculture said on April 30 that the dead bar-headed goose found in the county tested positive for the H5N1 strain, the highly contagious strain that has killed 12 people in China. Qinghai is known as a stopping point for migrating birds, and the virus killed thousands of bar-headed geese at a nature reserve in the region in 2005, according to state media.
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Bird flu symptoms
There are different strains of bird influenza virus. While most of them don't infect humans, four strains have caused concern in recent years: H5N1 since 1997, H7N9 since 2013, H5N6 since 2014, and most recently H5N8 in 2016.
Reportedly, H5N1, H7N9, and H5N6 do not infect humans easily and aren't commonly spread from human to human. A few individuals have been infected around the world, resulting to a number of deaths.
But if your area had a case of any of these bird flu strains associated to local birds, you have to watch out for these symptoms:
- a very high temperature
- aching muscles
- headache
- a cough
Other early symptoms may include:
- diarrhoea
- sickness
- stomach pain
- chest pain
- bleeding from the nose and gums
- conjunctivitis
According to NHS UK, it usually takes 3 to 5 days for the primary side effects to show up after you've been infected. Within days of symptoms showing up, it's possible to create more extreme complications such as pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Getting treatment right away, taking antiviral medication may avoid complications and diminish the risk of developing extreme illness.
The agriculture ministry currently aims to avoid the widespread spread of the H5N8 bird flu infection and monitor possible human infection in South Korea.
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Written by Liam Eustaquio
