January 20, 2004

 

 

No Bird Flu Detected On Japanese Farms

 

Japan have found no new bird flu outbreaks following stringent checks on poultry farms in the southwestern part of the country.

 

Japan said last week some chickens that had died on a farm in Yamaguchi prefecture were found to have the same strain of avian flu, H5N1, as has devastated the poultry industries in South Korea and Vietnam.

 

Taiwan has also reported cases of bird flu with the less virulent H5N2 strain.

 

It is Japan's first case of in nearly 80 years of the disease, which in some cases can be fatal to humans. The source of the outbreak in Japan has yet to be found.

 

A local official in Yamaguchi said: "We have checked all commercial chicken farms in the prefecture...and bird flu has so far only been found at the first farm where it was discovered."

 

He said the local government was calling on any other farms with chickens that had not been checked to do so.

 

"We have a record of all the chicken farms that are working on a commercial basis...but it is difficult to keep track of the one or two chickens that might be kept by some families," he said.

 

"We're trying to comb the whole prefecture so nothing goes undiscovered."

 

The chickens slaughtered at the farm hit by the disease, as well as any other possibly contaminated matter, are being buried, which was likely to take at least until Wednesday, he said.

 

In 1997, the same strain of bird flu killed six people in Hong Kong.

 

The World Health Organisation said on Monday that an eight-year-old girl had been confirmed as the fifth person to die in Vietnam from the flu.

 

Avian influenza can range from a mild form with only minor effects to a highly infectious version.

 

It spread in the air and in manure.