Health Highlights: Jan. 20, 2007

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors ofHealthDay:

Almost 300,000 South Korean Poultry To Be Killed Following Bird Flu Outbreak

Yet another massive poultry kill is being scheduled in the wake of the discovery of an outbreak of avian flu.

This time, theAssociated Pressreports, the virus was discovered for the fifth time in the past three months in South Korea. After being quarantined, 273,000 poultry will be killed to head off the spread of the strain of H5N1 flu, the type of bird flu that has caused the deaths of millions of birds worldwide.

The latest outbreak occurred earlier this week on a chicken farm about 60 miles south of Seoul, the wire service quotes a Korean Ministry of Agriculture as saying.

There may be another 386,000 chickens and ducks killed within the next day or two, the official told theA.P., in order to eliminate the outbreak from the South Korean poultry population.

Since avian flu was first identified, 160 humans have died, but health officials say that all of them contracted the disease from contact with birds and not from other humans.

Still, the World Health Organization and other medical agencies such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continue to monitor outbreaks for any mutation that could cause a human pandemic.

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More Than Half of All Americans Now Living With Non-Smoking Laws

More than half of the American population now live in states that have at least one law restricting where a person can smoke.

TheAssociated Pressreports that with the passing of a Nevada law in December 2006, 50.2 percent of all Americans live where smoking has been banned in public places, such as office buildings, bars or restaurants.