SEOUL, Dec. 22 (Yonhap) - A suspected case of the milder bird flu virus has been found at a duck farm in Gwangju, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said Wednesday
The H5N2 strain of avian influenza is less virulent than the H5N1 strain that swept through South Korea and Southeast Asia in 2003.

The ministry said that it has destroyed and buried the ducks in the farm in question and have set up tougher quarantine inspections in Gwangju.

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A suspected case of the milder bird influenza virus has been found at a duck farm in Gwangju, some 330 kilometers south to Seoul, South Korean Yonhap News Agency quoted an official of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry as reporting on Wednesday.

The quarantine authorities found the H5N2 strain of avian influenza on Dec. 1 when they inspected the farm in the South Korean city, according to Kim Chang-seob, the director of the ministry´s animal health division.

This marked the first time for the H5N2 virus, known to be lessvirulent than the H5N1 strain that swept through South Korea and other Asian countries and areas in late 2003 and early 2004, to appear in South Korea.

"We have a strict standard operating procedure for such developments and have ordered all 9,000 ducks at the farm to be destroyed even if the H5N2 is verified as a ´weaker´ strain," said Kim Chang-seob.

He said the H5N2 strain has never spread to humans and must be differentiated from the H5N1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) that hit the poultry raising industry of Asia last year.

He added that preliminary tests on eggs from the farm have indicated that the H5N2 has not mutated into a virulent variety. Kim said the final conclusive DNA test will be released Thursday and the results will be informed to its trading partners.

The chief veterinary officer said that a quarantine area has been set up around the infected farm to prevent possible spread and inspectors are checking nearby duck farms for possible contamination.

The South Korean government has conducted tough inspections of all duck and chicken farms since Nov. 1 and will continue to do so until the end of February. This period is deemed as dangerous because migratory birds arrive in the country and spread disease in the period.

South Korea reported 19 cases of the HPAI from December 2003 to March 2004, but no South Korean people has been founded infected with such influenza up to now.

The local poultry raising industry and related chicken meat industry has suffered some 1 trillion won (946.9 million US dollars) loss because of the influenza.

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SEOUL, (AFP) - Thousands of ducks have been culled at a South Korean livestock farm which reported a suspected outbreak of bird flu, officials said

The culling took place in Gwangju, 320 kilometers (200 miles) south of Seoul, where ducks showed symptoms similar to the avian disease, the agriculture ministry said.

About 9,000 ducks have been destroyed at the farm since quarantine officials detected the suspected H5N2 strain of avian influenza on December 1, it said, adding an isolation zone had been set up around the farm.

"It appears to be the first case of the H5N2 virus, although we are still waiting for a test result," a ministry official told AFP. "The area has been sealed off, with inspectors checking nearby farms for possible contamination."

The virus, known to be less virulent than the H5N1 strain that swept through South Korea and Southeast Asia last year, has never spread to humans, he said.

Initial tests on eggs from the farm indicated that the H5N2 has not mutated into a virulent strain, the ministry said. South Korea has inspected duck and chicken farms since November 1.

The H5N1 strain hit South Korea last October, forcing quarantine authorities to cull five millions ducks and chickens. Seoul declared in March that the outbreak of avian influenza was brought under control.

The H5N1 virus is known to pass from infected poultry to humans but there have been no reports of human infections in South Korea. It claimed 32 lives in Vietnam and Thailand this year alone.

China, Indonesia and Malaysia were among other countries hit by new outbreaks of bird flu this year.

The World Health Organization has warned that it could take years to eliminate the H5N1 virus from the environment.

Experts say avian influenza has entrenched itself in much of Asia and is unlikely to disappear anytime soon.