South Korea to Increase Funding for Bird Flu Countermeasures

Text of report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap

SEOUL, May 23 (Yonhap) – South Korea will upgrade its countermeasures to deal with potential human bird flu infections and allocate funds to promote research into mad cow disease, the government said Friday.

The national health promotion commission chaired by Vice Health Minister Lee Bong-wha said 658.3 billion won will allocated this year to address general public concerns and critical issues like avian influenza and mad cow disease.

The commission said the goal for this year is to stockpile sufficient Tamiflu drugs to treat at least 2.4 million people in case there is a outbreak involving humans.

South Korean quarantine officials confirmed 42 cases of the virulent H5N1 bird flu strain since April 1, which have resulted in millions of birds being culled and buried. No confirmed bird flu cases have been reported since early last week. This is the third outbreak to hit the country with the first and second cases happening in the winter months of 2003-2004 and 2006-2007.

No Korean national has been afflicted by avian influenza, which has killed 240 people worldwide.

As part of the country’s ability to cope with such an airborne disease, the commission also said it will allocate 5.4 billion won to double the size of special pandemic quarantine facilities. At present the country can isolate and treat a total of only 100 people.

The government, in addition, will support various research into the cause of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy more commonly called mad cow disease and the neurodegenerative variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob (vCJD) disorder that killed 207 people worldwide so far.

Emphasis of the research is to be centred on the link between genetics and susceptibility to vCJD.

The government has contended that findings showing most Koreans are genetically more susceptible to human mad cow disease than other races are not based on balanced scientific fact.

Such claims have fuelled public concerns about US beef imports and the government’s April 18 pact that allows most cow parts to be imported.

If this new sanitary and phytosanitary standard goes into effect it will replace a deal signed in early 2006 that only permitted the import of boneless beef from cattle under 30 months old.

The commission added that to alleviate fears Seoul will set up a specialized autopsy centre to better screen neurodegenerative deaths for vCJD, and improve overall detection of suspected cases.

Such measures are needed because there is widespread mistrust that some people who may have died of vCJD in the past were not properly reported.

Other uses for state funds will be to enhance warnings systems for smoking, increase support for underprivileged babies and young children so they can received nutritional food, and the setting up of two new cardio-cerebrovascular disease centres.

Originally published by Yonhap news agency, Seoul, in English 0547 23 May 08.

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