Dr. Cha Se-yeon of the College of Veterinary Medicine (Laboratory of Veterinary Infectious Diseases and Avian Disease) has, through an epidemiological investigation, revealed for the first time in Korea that the Egg Drop Syndrome (EDS) virus, which causes severe declines in egg production in chickens, also actually affects ducks. This finding has attracted significant attention from the academic community.

Dr. Cha presented these findings at the recent Autumn International Scientific Conference of the Korean Veterinary Medical Association held in Seoul and received the Excellent Poster Award.

The paper Dr. Cha presented at the conference was "Serological Epidemiological Survey and Molecular Biological Analysis of Egg Drop Syndrome (EDS) Virus in Ducks."

Egg Drop Syndrome virus causes severe decreases in egg production in chickens and has been reported several times in domestic chickens; however, this study is the first report of the virus in domestic ducks.

Dr. Cha also analyzed the characteristics of the isolated virus to establish evidence and associations, and for the first time reported the molecular biological characteristics of the strain circulating in Korea, attracting considerable attention in the academic field.

For this research, Dr. Cha conducted a serological epidemiological survey at domestic duck farms to determine the infection rate of Egg Drop Syndrome virus, and analyzed the molecular biological characteristics of viruses isolated from ducks.

Dr. Cha Se-yeon said, "This study is the first to identify the EDS virus in domestic duck farms, which had not previously been reported, and is expected to provide valuable scholarly evidence for future disease control."