February 16, 2007

Mild bird flu strain found in droppings in western Japan

A mild form of bird flu has been detected in waterfowl droppings at a lake in western Japan, but there were no reports of the virus at nearby poultry farms, an official said Thursday.

The H5N2 virus, which was detected in waterfowl droppings in Fukui prefecture, is a less virulent strain and is not known to be harmful to humans, said prefectural government official Masaki Shimizu.

Fukui is about 200 miles west of Tokyo.

Shimizu said there were no reports of the virus infecting local poultry farms around the lake.

The H5N2 strain was detected from among three samples of waterfowl droppings collected between Nov 4 and Dec 14 at the lake by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Shimizu said.

The institute has been conducting a survey of waterfowl droppings around the country to see the possibility that migratory birds might have brought a bird flu virus from other parts of Asia.

Earlier this year, Japanese authorities culled tens of thousands of chickens in western Japan following four outbreaks of bird flu.