March 15, 2011

Japan confronted with a new bird flu outbreak

Avian influenza has now been confirmed at a poultry farm in the Kanto region, making it the first confirmed outbreak in this area of Japan.

The outbreak in Chiba, Japan's second-largest chicken egg producing prefecture, has prompted local authorities to begin culling about 35,000 birds at the infected farm and restrict the movements of another 869,000 birds being raised within a 10-kilometre radius of the farm in question, the Chiba prefectural government said.

''This is a very severe situation as damage from the huge earthquake is also serious,'' Chiba Gov Kensaku Morita said at a press conference, referring to the powerful quake that struck northeastern and eastern Japan on Friday (Mar 11).

A total of four birds were found dead at the Chiba farm on Friday (Mar 11) and Saturday (Mar 12), and a genetic test confirmed that four out of seven birds checked were infected by a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu virus.