Choe Ryong-hae at chicken farmChoe Ryong-hae, a member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of North Korea’s Workers’ Party, inspects the Hadang Chicken Farm on Jan. 22, 2019. (Yonhap)
A highly pathogenic strain of bird flu was discovered in two dead cats on Saturday, a provincial government official said, marking the first infection of the virus found in mammals in two years.
The H5N6 strain of avian influenza (AI) which has infected chickens across the country was found in the bodies of the cats in Pocheon, some 46 kilometers north of Seoul, the official said, citing information from health authorities.
The cats were found dead earlier this week some 2 kilometers from a chicken farm where the strain of the virus was first reported last month. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but this seems pretty significant because if the bird flu spreads to cats it is an animal that people are more likely to handle than chickens.
An egg wholesaler looks down at empty trays of egg at his storage facility in Seoul on Dec. 27, 2016. The nation has been suffering a severe egg supply shortage due to the worst-ever avian influenza that has forced poultry farmers to cull more than 26 million chickens and ducks since mid-November. (Yonhap)
