Gyeongju Huimang Farm Laying Hens Face Mass Death Threat... Gyeongbuk Province Conducts Emergency Surveillance for 'Highly Pathogenic AI Suspected'

H5 Antigen Detected at Laying Hen Farm... 'Highly Pathogenic' Confirmed Early Next Week
Hope Farm Raises 161,000 Laying Hens Across 14 Farms

The photo shows the culling operation at a layer farm in Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi-do, where the H5 subtype avian influenza (AI) antigen was detected on December 17.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Jae-ho] Gyeongbuk Province announced on the 26th that it is conducting emergency surveillance within a 10 km radius after detecting the H5 subtype avian influenza (AI) antigen at a layer farm in Hope Farm, Cheonbuk-myeon, Gyeongju-si.

According to Gyeongbuk Province, the AI Central Accident Response Headquarters (CARH) received a suspicious report of deaths from a layer farm in Gyeongju on the 25th, and after testing by the Gyeongbuk Animal Hygiene Laboratory, the H5 subtype AI antigen was confirmed. Confirmation of whether it is highly pathogenic will be available in 1 to 3 days.

The area where the AI antigen was detected this time is located 2.1 km away from the site where the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus was detected on the 2nd. The farm raises approximately 8,000 layers.

Including this farm, Hope Farm has 14 farms raising a total of 161,000 layers. If highly pathogenic avian influenza is confirmed, 208,000 chickens from Hope Farm and one farm within a 3 km radius (47,000 birds) will be culled.

Gyeongbuk Province is implementing quarantine measures such as movement restrictions on epidemiologically related facilities, conducting emergency surveillance on poultry farms (3 farms with 93,000 birds) within the 10 km quarantine zone, and if confirmed as highly pathogenic, movement will be restricted for 30 days.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.