In the latest highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak developments, Iraq reported two more H5N8 events at poultry farms and South Korea reported another pair of H5N6 outbreaks, according to the latest notifications from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).

Iraq's two H5N8 outbreaks both involved commercial farms near the capital city of Baghdad, located in the central part of the country. Start dates were Jan 15 and Jan 21, and between the two locations, the virus killed 10,000 of 31,000 susceptible birds. Authorities culled the remaining ones to control the spread of the virus.

The country reported its first H5N8 outbreak of the year earlier this month, and since then, the virus has also hit poultry in Diyala and Babil provinces. A few other Middle East countries have also reported recent H5N8 outbreaks.

Elsewhere, South Korea, which has been battling H5N6 since the middle of November, reported two more outbreaks, both involving commercial layer farms in Gyeonggi province in the country's northwest. The events began on Jan 26 and Jan 27, killing 820 of 290,700 susceptible birds. The remaining ones were destroyed as part of the outbreak response. The H5N6 implicated in South Korea's outbreaks is a reassortant between H5N8 and endemic Eurasian avian flu viruses.