November 25, 2005

Signs of bird flu found in northern Japan

Signs of a bird flu infection were found at a poultry farm in northern Japan Tuesday, the latest in a series of bird flu cases that led to the culling of about 1.6 million chickens over the past few months in the region, an official said.

The decision on whether to cull the 290,000 enclosed-range chickens at the affected farm located in the town of Ogawa, 62 miles northeast of Tokyo, will be made based on results of tests now underway, said Ibaraki Prefectural official Osamu Kamogawa.

The enclosed-range chickens tested positive for H5 antibodies-meaning they were once exposed to them-and a more detailed test is being conducted to see if the virus is still present and to confirm it is H5N2, Kamogawa said.

The latest suspected infection comes just four days after local authorities decided Friday to cull 110,000 free-range chickens at another farm run by the same owner in the same town, following the detection of a virus from the H5 family.

The two farms are in the area where the movement of their eggs and chickens has been banned as a precautionary measure, and authorities have been conducting tests on the birds regularly.

Officials are also investigating if the same poultry manure disposal facility used by the two farms has any connection to the suspected bird flu infection, Kamogawa said.

Since June, Japanese health authorities have culled 1.6 million chickens at 34 farms following the bird flu outbreaks involving the H5N2 strain, which is less virulent than the H5N1 variety that killed at least 67 people in Asia, though none in Japan.

Most people who have died or been sickened by bird flu had contact with sick birds.