One day after the highly virulent H5N1 strain of avian influenza, known to pass from infected poultry to humans, was found in two dead pheasants from a nature preserve in the Gwangjin district of Seoul, concerns were growing as some residents in the affected area visited hospitals with a high fever and headache. As citizen worries continue to spread, the government has been accused of coping too slowly with the poultry epidemic, which was first discovered in the southwestern region of the country on April 1.

At a public health clinic set up to provide consultations on avian influenza in Seoul’s Gwangjin district, where the latest case avian influenza was discovered, 19 people made telephone calls and nine made visits to inquire about getting tested for infection as of 3:00 p.m. on May 7.

A 50-year-old female resident, who was only identified by the surname Lee, said, “I’m angry with the district office because it dealt too slowly with the case, even though suspected cases were found several days ago. My neighbors are reluctant to go out because they are worried,“ Lee said.

On May 6, the Seoul Metropolitan Government decontaminated and blocked off a 500-meter radius around the affected area after the latest outbreak of avian influenza was confirmed as the dangerous H5N1 strain. However, the central government requires officials to block the affected area with a 10-kilometer radius. “If we (block the area) in line with the measures, we would be blocking all nearby motorways,” a city official said. “There are no measures that fit the reality of each region,” the city official said.

Though the poultry epidemic has spread for more than a month nationwide, the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and local governments have failed to control the outbreak of avian influenza. The ministry, which has put its focus on calming public anxiety over mad cow disease in the wake of a planned full resumption of U.S. beef imports, has only released press releases on the details of its inspections for avian influenza and related countermeasures. There are also some significant holes in the government’s policy on traditional poultry markets. Since May 1, the ministry has banned the traditional markets from selling chickens, ducks and other poultry, but the measure was late in coming because, by then, most of the animals had already been sold to other cities and provinces. The preventive measure came nearly 20 days after middlemen dealing in these kinds of poultry were discovered to have been one of the major causes for the epidemic’s rapid spread to other parts of the country.

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