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Deadly Avian Flu Strain Penetrates Biosecurity Defenses In Seoul
sciencehabit writes "A new, deadly H5N8 strain of avian influenza penetrated the biosecurity defenses of a National Institute of Animal Science (NIAS) campus near Seoul, prompting authorities to cull all of the facility's 11,000 hens and 5000 ducks. The incident highlights the difficulty of protecting poultry farms from circulating avian influenza viruses. 'We are taking this situation very seriously,' said Lee Jun-Won, deputy agriculture minister, at a press conference yesterday in Seoul. He noted that NIAS has the country's most secure facilities and most vigilant staff. Lee said they were looking at three possible routes the virus could have taken onto campus: wild birds, NIAS vehicles, and supply deliveries. 'We will determine the reason for the infection, and we are going to hold those responsible accountable,' he said."
Nature is most perseverant. Sure glad I don't eat any poultry products, by products from Korea. At least, I don't think I do, but that Poisoned Milk thing from China showed just how global food distribution is, even to a seemingly unrelated supplier half way around the world.
perhaps we could learn to enjoy rubber chickens
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
OK... Just how do you hold wild birds accountable???
This is a sig. This is only a sig. Had this been an actual sig you would have been informed where to tune for more sigs.
Watch out for the Zombies, and a malicious A.I.
Instead of fighting with the flu virus, why don't we negotiate with it? Maybe if it understands that it is harming us, we will all find a way to peacefully co-exist.
I read TFA, but I'm still not clear on this...did the virus escape from the facility's biosecurity defenses and infect animals in the wild, or did the virus penetrate the biosecurity defenses from animals in the wild to infect the facility's animals?
"Lee said they were looking at three possible routes the virus could have taken onto campus"
It's North Korea's doing. An inspired variation of the urban myth of putting smallpox into blankets; except this one actually happened.
It did happen, Chief. And given the insanity the North Korean leadership is capable of, it's not out of the realm of possibility.
"Lee said they were looking at three possible routes the virus could have taken onto campus"
I wasn't clear if that meant out of their research building and onto the campus at large, or from offsite onto campus, but now I see a quote in TFA that clarifies it:
. Lee said they were looking at three possible routes the virus could have taken onto campus: wild birds, NIAS vehicles, and supply deliveries
So this seems much less scary, when I first read the summary, I thought a research virus had escaped from their facility to their bird flocks, but now it seems clear that someone tracked in the virus from outside, which is not surprising since it's hard to disinfect an entire supply truck.
I read TFA, but I'm still not clear on this...did the virus escape from the facility's biosecurity defenses and infect animals in the wild, or did the virus penetrate the biosecurity defenses from animals in the wild to infect the facility's animals?
If it was clear it wouldn't be on /., silly :)
In the age of the airliner, a poultry farmer wipes his nose the wrong way, shakes another guy's hand, 2d guy gets on a jet to Hong Kong, jet stops long enough to change crews and off to sunny California. Kills the guys in the first village, flight crew spreads it to Hong Kong, then right to the US in less than a day.
We're fucked. Sooner or later. It's happened before.
http://www.who.int/mediacentre...
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain with all your metadata.
I would bet on the boots the workers are wearing. The treads are amazing at carrying around material.
Pasteur was very late to the game. Vaccination had already been invented by Jenner decades before Pasteur's birth, and even before that there was "variolation," which was essentially deliberate inoculation with smallpox (taken from scabs of smallpox patients) in order to bestow immunity. So, long before Pasteur, it was well-known that smallpox was transmissible, how to transmit it, and that people could become immune to it.
Pasteur did create several vaccines, and his experiments largely established the germ theory of disease, but he was by no means the first to discover transmissibility or immunity.
How dare you! Dear Leader is of course capable of making a bird fly! Or even flu! They have a whole population as an incubator.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
*groan* How the hell do you infect them? It's always them. And if it isn't, it's those Greenlanders.
It's really not easy being a pandemia.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
This pork-barrel* will have a body count when it's all over: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Bio_and_Agro-Defense_Facility/
* Rammed through by Senator Pat Roberts, who hilariously will probably lose re-election to an insane Tea-Bagger.
"... disinfecting and shoeing away wild birds ..." Must've taken a lot of shoes to shoo that many birds away.
"Decimate" is to kill 1 in 10, not entirely eliminate.
Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
Zerg are too strong in south korea. Nerf plz David Kim.
Animal on the outside infected the birds at the research facility, according to the article.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on