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Deadly Avian Flu Strain Penetrates Biosecurity Defenses In Seoul

Posted by samzenpus on from the cover-your-mouth dept.

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."

8 of 49 comments (clear)

  1. Nature... by ackthpt · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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

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    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    1. Re:Nature... by Nefarious+Wheel · · Score: 2

      "There's been a fire."

        -- Andromeda Strain

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      Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
  2. Lock up the wild birds! by penix1 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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."

    OK... Just how do you hold wild birds accountable???

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    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.
    1. Re:Lock up the wild birds! by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Funny

      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."

      OK... Just how do you hold wild birds accountable???

      Form a Fact Finding Committee, start several task forces, budget a few hundred million for the whole process, lose sight of the objective, point fingers, trade polarizing recriminations in media and ultimately issue a report that is over 1,000 pages long and nobody can even understand.

      Oh, wait, in Korea... put a net over it for a couple hundred dollars.

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      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    2. Re:Lock up the wild birds! by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 4, Funny

      Oh, wait, in Korea... put a net over it for a couple hundred dollars.

      It's just one flu over the chicken coop, after all.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
  3. People of earth. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.

  4. Did it enter or leave the facility? by hawguy · · Score: 2

    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?

  5. Life finds a way.... by pcwhalen · · Score: 2

    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...

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    Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain with all your metadata.