From rxpgnews.com
Japan suspends poultry imports from South Korea
By DPA,
Nov 24, 2006 - 5:08:51 PM
Tokyo, Nov 24 - Japan has suspended poultry imports from South Korea after bird flu was suspected to have caused the death of 6,000 chickens at a farm in that country, a government spokesperson said Friday.
In implementing the ban, the Japanese government requested details from Seoul on the deaths at a poultry operation in Iksan, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said.
Travellers from Seoul were also expected to sterilise shoe soles upon arrival in Japan to prevent the virus from entering into the country.
Nearly half the 13,000 chickens at the farm died from Sunday to Wednesday, and initial tests indicated they had bird flu, which is highly contagious among birds. However, confirmation and a determination of the strain of the disease is not expected until the weekend, the South Korean agriculture and forestry ministry said.
The surviving poultry stock at the Iksan farm was to be culled and a quarantine was being imposed on an area within a 10 km radius from the affected farm, the ministry said.
All rights reserved by RxPG Medical Solutions Private Limited ( www.rxpgnews.com )