January 20, 2004

Japan Bird Flu Possibly Spread Through Human Contact Or Feed

The source of the bird flu outbreak in Japan's Yamaguchi Prefecture remains unknown, but a government panel believes the infection was spread by human contact or feed, not through migrant birds.

According to the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry's domestic fowl disease committee, it is less likely that migrant birds passed the virus on to domestic birds, but more probable the virus might have been spread by contaminated bird droppings brought into the country by vehicle, people's footwear or poultry feed.

"Droppings contaminated by the virus might have gotten on the soles of shoes worn in an area where the virus prevails, and then the same shoes might have been worn in the poultry house and birds could have inhaled the virus," said the committee's head, Prof. Hiroshi Kida of Kitazato University.

Kida said the virus can lie dormant for two to three weeks in droppings and still be passed on.

It is thought that current prevention controls will keep the virus from spreading further. The ministry plans to focus its investigation on people who visited the farm, their overseas travel record and records of equipment including trucks going in and out of the farm.

The chicken farm is located in a mountainous area, and strangers rarely enter the area. If the outbreak was caused by those involved in the poultry business, it is natural that the virus would be found in other farms as well.

"Speculation about the bird flu is rife, but no substantial evidence has been found at this moment," a government official of the prefecture said.