February 1, 2011

Japan's Miyazaki completes cull of 40,000 chickens

Japan's Miyazaki prefecture has completed a cull of about 40,000 chickens at a Takanabe poultry farm on Monday (Jan 31) where infection with a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus has been found.

The local government will promptly disinfect the farm, where authorities confirmed the season's sixth outbreak in the southwestern Japanese prefecture of the highly pathogenic bird flu in the early hours of the morning.

In Takanabe, 90 chickens died on Sunday (Jan 30), with four of them testing positive for the highly pathogenic bird flu in preliminary tests. Subsequent detailed tests confirmed early Monday (Jan 31) their infection with the virus.

The cull was completed by a team of some 200 people, including members of the Self-Defense Forces. The local government slapped a ban on the transportation of chickens and eggs within a 10-kilometre radius of the farm.

Meanwhile, the prefectural government found the avian flu virus which had been detected at a poultry farm in the town of Tsuno earlier to be of the H5N1 strain, it said, adding that it is checking if the virus is a highly virulent type. The Tsuno outbreak is the third bird flu case in the prefecture.

The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said its epidemiological survey has found that the Tsuno farm's metal nets for fending off wild birds have several openings and corrosion damage and that its walls have holes where rats could pass through.

The survey also found that among the three poultry houses at the Tsuno farm, the one where the H5N1 virus was detected is located closest to a reservoir where wild ducks had been sighted.

Already more than 500,000 chickens have been culled in the prefecture since Jan. 22 to block the further spread of the epidemic after infections were confirmed in the cities of Miyazaki and Nobeoka as well as the towns of Shintomi, Tsuno and Kawaminami.

Miyazaki Prefecture's livestock industry has also taken serious blows from the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease last year that forced the cull of 290,000 cows and pigs.