South Korea citing Michigan bird flu for ban
August 17th, 2006
South Korea has temporarily banned poultry imports from the United States, waiting on further laboratory results for the two swans from the state of Michigan found to have a strain of bird flu virus. South Korean say they do not want to take any chances and that the ban will be lifted if the virus proves to be a low pathogenic form of avian influenza. Roughly 26,000 tons of poultry were imported by the country from the United States, in the first half of the year alone. The US authorities announced earlier this week that the initial tests carried out on samples taken from the swans have ruled out the possibility of the virus being a dangerous H5N1 version. A definitive result will be available in about two weeks.