SEOUL, April 19 (Reuters) - South Korea's Farm Ministry reported on Saturday a new outbreak of bird flu at a chicken farm in the southwest, taking the total confirmed cases to 16 in poultry just over two weeks. A ministry official said test results were confirmed positive for the H5N1 strain of the virus at a farm in Jeongeup, North Jeolla province, an area which saw an outbreak earlier this month. It was one of three new suspected cases authorities said on Friday were investigating, as the worst outbreak in four years spread despite massive culling. No human deaths from the disease have been reported so far from the country. Yonhap News said South Korea has culled 3.7 million chickens and ducks out of nearly 4.8 million planned, the largest since the country killed 5.3 million between late 2003 and early 2004. Quarantine workers and soldiers are working to complete culling in the hardest-hit North Jeolla province this weekend, the Farm Ministry official said. South Korea had seven bird flu outbreaks between November 2006 and March last year. Some 240 human deaths have been reported globally from the H5N1 strain and 381 confirmed cases of infection since 2003, according to World Health Organisation data. (Reporting by Rhee So-eui; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
Chickens for Korean traditional wedding ceremony are displayed for sale at a chicken store in Seoul April 17, 2008. South Korea said on Thursday it had culled three million farmed birds ...
