The Cull of the Wild
#223
Now that I’m back from my 5-day flu convention, it’s time to turn my attentions back to the news. And the big news over the weekend has been the outbreak of H5N1 in poultry in South Korea. While outbreaks in poultry are common, the response by Korean officials has been newsworthy.
First, the outbreaks:
S. Korea finds 2nd bird flu case
SEOUL, South Korea/JAKARTA, Indonesia (Reuters) -- South Korea on Tuesday confirmed a second outbreak of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, after saying on Saturday it had its first outbreak for three years of the strain that is potentially deadly to humans.
The agriculture ministry said the second bird-flu outbreak killed about 200 chickens at a farm 3 km from where the first case had been found in North Cholla province, southwest of Seoul.
The response by Korean authorities has been swift, and by some accounts, over the top. Instead of simply culling all chickens within a 500-meter radius of the infected farms, authorities have called for the destruction of virtually all animals within the affected area. Pigs, cats and dogs have all been specifically mentioned.
South Korea to Kill Cats, Dogs
SEOUL, South Korea Nov 27, 2006 (AP)— South Korea plans to kill cats and dogs to try to prevent the spread of bird flu after an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 virus at a chicken farm last week, officials said Monday.
Animal health experts, however, suggested it was "a bit of an extreme measure" when there was no scientific evidence to suggest that cats or dogs could pass the virus to humans.
Quarantine officials have already killed 125,000 chickens within a 1,650-foot radius of the outbreak site in Iksan, about 155 miles south of Seoul, the Agriculture Ministry said. Officials began slaughtering poultry on Sunday, a day after they confirmed that the outbreak was caused by the H5N1 strain.
They plan to slaughter a total of 236,000 poultry, as well as other animals, including pigs, and all dogs and cats in the area by Thursday, the ministry said. About 6 million eggs also will be destroyed, it said. The ministry did not say how many dogs, cats and other animals would be killed.
Another ministry official, Kim Chang-sup, insisted killing cats and dogs to curtail the spread of bird flu was not unusual.
"Other countries do it. They just don't talk about it," Kim said, adding that all mammals are potentially subject to the virus. He declined further comment.
These reports are disturbing on several levels.
First, the re-emergence of bird flu in South Korean after a 3-year absence indicates that the virus is alive and well, and making inroads towards becoming endemic in the area. While countries are often quick to announce that they are `bird flu free’ several months after the last reported outbreak, those assurances need to be taken with a grain of salt. South Korea isn’t the first, nor shall it be the last country to find that this scourge has returned.
Second, while sensitivities vary from country to country, the destruction of cats and dogs in what appears to be a knee-jerk reaction has rightfully upset a great many animal lovers. Earlier this year, China began a massive dog culling operation in response to what had been described an outbreak of rabies, much to the dismay of many. Domestic pets were reportedly dispatched in front of their owners.
During the 1918 pandemic, there were rumors that dogs spread the disease (never confirmed), and even in the United States some dogs were culled in response to those fears.
And third, and most disturbing of all, if this move by the Korean authorities turns out to be based on science, and not irrational fear, then the avian influenza problem is greater than we have been led to believe.
We’ve heard scattered reports of H5N1 infection in mammals. Tigers fed infected chickens died in Thailand, at least one dog has been tested and shown to have died of the bird flu virus in Thailand, in Indonesia we’ve heard of cats dying of the disease, infected pigs in Bali and Indonesia, and in Europe a martin (a weasel-like mammal) tested positive.
Beyond these few cases, however, there have always been rumors of more extensive die offs of mammals. Supposedly, infected cats are called `Arrrgh Plop’ in Indonesia, named after the sound the animal makes as it falls dying from a tree. This may be more of a village legend than a truthful account, however.
Authorities are no doubt mindful of the emotional impact of revealing any concerted effort to cull wild or domesticated dogs and cats, and in many countries the temptation not to mention that little fact would be strong. I’ve no way of knowing if Kim Chang-sup’s statement that this was `not unusual’ in other countries is true or not, but I tend to believe it.
It is apparent that the H5N1 virus is expanding its host range, and the Korean actions here, no matter how distasteful, may turn out to be based more on prudence rather than on panic.
If so, we need to be told just how prevalent animal infections really are.
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