June 29, 2005

Japan to reduce the likelihood of bird flu outbreaks

After it took more than two months to detect a weak strain of bird flu outbreak in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, the country's farm ministry will seek ways to detect such weaker strains in their early stages.

Although the deadlier types of bird flu are easily noticed, weaker strains are more difficult to determine as their symptoms, such as a drop in egg quantity, may also be due to illnesses other than bird flu.

Measures being considered by the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry include stepping up cooperation among private testing organizations and local government livestock hygiene service centers, and increasing supervision of farms while educating farmers about the existence of weaker bird flu strains.

In the Ibaraki case, the farm in Mitsukaido reported an average of 10 of its 250,000 chickens dying every day during April, a rate slightly more than normal. Egg production was also observed to be lower.

On May 23, it asked a private organization to probe, but it took another month before the result of "suspected bird flu" was issued.

The ministry will now be taking samples from nearby farms to check if the virus has spread, because of the high chance that weak strains could mutate into the more deadly ones if poultry continue to become infected for six months or more.