October 9, 2007

Japan to study bird flu in Asia, see how cases spread

Japan's Agriculture Ministry will begin pursuing research next fiscal year on avian influenza, including the migratory patterns of birds in Asia and their impact on outbreaks, reports Japanese daily The Nikkei.

The ministry aims to use such information to figure out when outbreaks might occur and how to prevent them.

Since bird flu cases were confirmed in Hong Kong in 2001, different regions throughout the world, such as Europe and Africa, have reported outbreaks.

This past January, the ministry confirmed bird flu at a chicken farm in Miyazaki Prefecture. With migratory birds from mainland China believed to have carried the virus into Japan, the ministry believes that Asian nations should work to uncover how outbreaks spread in order to prevent them.

Through the World Organization for Animal Health, the Agriculture Ministry plans to collect data on weather patterns in Asian countries and migratory patterns among birds to look for a correlation between the two. The ministry will analyze information on regions where outbreaks have been reported and match it up against migratory routes and weather patterns to predict which regions may be next and when.

In Russia, bird flu cases have been known to spread along the Siberia railroad route. The Agriculture Ministry will study the relationship between human migratory patterns and the extent to which they contribute to the spread of bird flu. It also hopes to use this information to predict how the disease spreads.

Japan will also call on different countries to establish a joint database on bird flu.