South Korea‘s Agricultural Ministry said Monday it confirmed a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu in wild bird droppings in the southern part of the country.

The latest discovery came a day after the AI virus was detected at a poultry farm with 12,000 ducks in Gochang, some 300 kilometers southwest of Seoul. The Gochang case tested positive as the highly pathogenic strain of H5N6.

The government said the droppings were from Suncheon, about 415 kilometers south of Seoul. The samples were collected on Monday last week.

It marks the second confirmation of highly pathogenic avian influenza this season.

Low pathogenic AI strains cause only mild symptoms and may easily go undetected, while highly pathogenic subtypes spread rapidly across poultry farms and cause serious problems, experts said.

In a separate case, the ministry said it also found the H5 strain of AI in wild bird droppings in Yangyang, some 215 kilometers east of Seoul. The government will check to see if the virus is highly pathogenic, with the result expected in around three to five days. (Yonhap)