Bird Flu - Archives
North Korea
North Korea
North Korea has denied
reports of a
bird flu outbreak in the capital Pyongyang.
"They said there is
no outbreak and all the media reports about North Korea's cases were not
true, just a rumour," Dr. Noureddin Mona, the [Food and Agricultural]
organization's representative in China, said in an Associated Press report.
Mona said the UN agency has no choice but to accept the official story. "We
are in no position to make an investigation," he said.
January 28th,
2006
A Quick Round-Up of
Breaking Bird Flu News:
* Algerian health
authorities have denied reports that a poultry breeder in Oran has
died of
bird flu.
* A Japanese group
helping North Korean defectors claims that a woman in Pyongyang was
infected with
bird flu last month.
* GlaxoSmithKline
expects to have a new
bird flu vaccine in production by the end of the year.
* An Israeli virologist
believes she has found a
new remedy for bird flu, based on elderberries.
January 26th,
2006
North Korea
– Should We Start Worrying?
Reuters
reports that “a steady stream” of official statements from North Korea on
preparations to fight bird flu raises the possibility that a new outbreak
has already occurred there.
North Korea had an
outbreak of the H5N1 avian flu virus earlier this year. Initially it did not
announce the outbreak at two poultry farms near Pyongyang, saying it was
merely stepping up preventive measures. Within the past month, North Korea's
official KCNA news agency has made five statements about its effort to
prevent bird flu as well as covering the subject on state TV and radio.
"Of course all these
reports raise questions about whether an outbreak has occurred, but there is
no evidence now to suggest one," said Kwon Tae-jin, director of North Korea
agricultural studies at South Korea's state-run Korea Rural Economic
Institute. Kwon noted the North had to appeal for international help to
stamp out its previous outbreak. "North Korea is on very high alert for bird
flu since it does not have enough resources and adequate organisation," he
said.
November 29th,
2005
North Korea
Knows That Transparency Necessary
WHO
Director-General and Korean national
Lee Jong-wook has told a Seoul press conference that North Korea was
well aware of the threat posed by bird flu.
"When an
avian influenza outbreak was reported in the North last time, we told
Pyongyang that sharing information with WHO and receiving our
medication and equipment would help them," Dr. Lee said. "North Korea knows that it has to handle the case transparently."
In March,
North Korea
reported that it had culled hundreds of thousands of chickens after a
bird flu outbreak at “two or three” farms, including Hadang farm in
Pyongyang, one of the capital city's largest. It did not specify the strain
of flu, but asked
for international assistance. North and South Korean officials have held
government-level talks on the problem. Such meetings are rare, and it
suggests that
North Korea
takes the bird flu threat seriously. In July it was reported that North
Korea had
successfully ended the outbreak, which it said was of the H7 strain.
October 14th, 2005
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