By Soh Ji-young, Cho Jin-seo
Staff Reporters

Another chicken farm in Umsong, North Chungchong province, was reported on Wednesday to be infected with the deadly bird flu, pushing government officials to exercise stronger quarantine measures.

The chicken egg farm is situated 2.5 kilometers from the first chicken farm to report the outbreak. Officials took test samples of the infected animals and ordered all of the 15,000 chickens on the farm to be killed.

To prevent further infection, officials strengthened quarantine measures and decided to kill all of the 137,000 ducks and chickens located within three kilometers of first infection site. Officials also ordered all of the chicken and duck eggs from the region to be destroyed.

Already more than 25,000 poultry have died from the disease or have been slaughtered since Dec. 5th due to the rapid spread of the highly pathogenic avian influenza.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry forbade the moving of any poultry within a ten- kilometer radius from the first affected farm. The ministry also ordered local governments to intensify their monitoring and enforcement of sanitary measures for poultry farms in their areas.

Local police set up a traffic control center near Umsong and are limiting entry into the region, while the military units of Chungchong province are also being deployed to the region to help in the prevention efforts.

Mid-and small-sized poultry farms are likely to be hit hard by the bird flu, as the outbreak forced exports of chicken-based products to be put on hold.

Halim, the nation’s largest chicken-based product manufacturer and exporter, said yesterday that this month’s shipment of 15 tons of refrigerated chicken to Japan was suspended at the importer’s request.

The poultry firm also worried that next year’s exports of chicken and chicken products would affected if the bird flu persists. The company has sold 97 tons of chicken to Japan this year and expected to export more next year.

Local livestock raisers are also worrying about fallout damage from the bird flu.

Domestic sales of chicken and duck decreased by thirty percent at big retailers such as Lotte Mart, while prices fell 17 percent.

``Even before the bird flu outbreak, this year’s chicken sales were much lower than the average,’’ said a local rancher known as Kim, who is also one of Halim’s chicken suppliers. ``All I can do is to take some sanitary actions,’’ Kim commented.

Officials said that citizens should not show much concern regarding the outbreak, as there have been no cases where the virus infected a human through consumption. People can avoid infection if they eat poultry that is fully cooked.