September 6, 2005

Japan to cull 1.5 million chickens following bird flu outbreaks

Japan's government said it would cull a total of about 1.5 million chickens, following the recent bird flu outbreaks in Ibaraki and Saitama prefectures.

So far, 504,000 chickens had already been culled and another 1.024 million birds were to be killed to prevent the disease from spreading, according to officials.

While only the low pathogenic H5N2 strain of bird flu has been detected so far, the government acted fast to identify the source of the outbreak.

Chickens at Ibaraki farms hit by bird flu made up one-third of all hens in the prefecture.

Fearing that the area of infection might spread, the government late last month, changed its policy of culling every chicken at the affected farms.

Of about 1,700 poultry farms around Japan, bird flu has been detected at 29 in Ibaraki prefecture and one at Saitama prefecture. As such, the government said it was unlikely the infections would spread nationwide.