By Soh Ji-young
Staff Reporter

A deadly bird flu that has killed thousands of chickens in Umsong, North Chungchong Province, has spread to a nearby duck farm, officials said on Tuesday.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said ducks at the farm, located about 2.5 kilometers from the poultry farm that first reported the virus, are confirmed to have been infected with the highly pathogenic avian influenza. All 3,300 ducks at the farm were ordered to be slaughtered, officials said.

The outbreak is not confirmed to be of the same strain as that which has killed people in Hong Kong, but officials are carrying out quarantines and taking preventive measures against possible human infection.

Blood samples were taken from all the ducks within a 3-kilometer radius of the affected duck farm to check for other infections.

Health authorities have been on full alert since Monday, when the country’s first case of the avian flu was confirmed to have killed more than 19,000 chickens in Umsong, about 70 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

The same strain of flu killed six people in Hong Kong in 1997 and another one in February this year. A vaccine for the deadly virus has not been developed.

Officials ordered local governments to intensify their monitoring and enforcement of sanitary measures for poultry farms in their areas, urging residents to immediately report flu symptoms. As the avian flu is especially dangerous for those who already have a virus, workers at the affected farms were given influenza shots as a precaution.

However, health officials said the public should not panic, as all of the infected chickens and ducks have been killed.

``There is no reason to worry for the public, as the outbreak is currently restricted to the Umsong area and as the virus does not spread through the meat circulation,’’ Park Ki-dong, an official at the National Institute of Health (NIH), said.

It will take about a month until officials can confirm whether the influenza is harmful to humans. The NIH yesterday began closely monitoring the health condition of 229 people who came into contact with the infected chickens or live nearby the affected farm. Officials said no one has shown any symptoms of the virus.

The outbreak of bird flu is expected to deal a severe blow to poultry farmers throughout the country.