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As expected, bird flu activity is starting to pick up with the arrival of cooler temperatures in the northern hemisphere. The pattern over the past five yeas has been that during the summer months bird flu activity generally declines, only to resume in the fall.
In the past two weeks we've seen two reports of outbreaks in poultry in Thailand, and at least one bird flu-related fatality in Indonesia.
This increased activity has prompted South Korea, which waged a major battle against bird flu last April, to issue a low-level warning and to activate their situation room.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008 18:12:00
The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on Wednesday issued a low-level avian influenza (AI) warning after Thailand confirmed the first AI outbreak in nine months.
The ministry said it will open an AI quarantine situation room and strengthen quarantine inspections at seaports and airports.
In addition, the ministry will inspect poultry farms and slaughterhouses for possible AI outbreaks through November 21st.
The ministry has been operating an AI quarantine system every day since July.
Vietnam also continues to see sporadic outbreaks, as evidenced by this report from Xinhua News.
Bird flu outbreak occurs in central Vietnam
www.chinaview.cn
2008-11-12 11:59:03
HANOI, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- A bird flu outbreak has been confirmed in Nghe An, a central province of Vietnam, the local newspaper Liberty Saigon reported on Wednesday, citing a statement from the provincial People's Committee.
The outbreak was spotted at the Dien Hong commune, causing the death of nearly 1,000 poultry. Specimens from the dead poultry have recently been tested positive to the bird flu virus strain H5N1, according to the statement.
The local authority has established a zone covering the outbreak to prevent the virus from spreading. Consumption and sale of birds and bird-related products within the zone are banned.
Bird flu outbreaks in Vietnam, starting in December 2003, have killed and led to the forced culling of dozens of millions of fowls in the country.
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