December 1, 2010

 

Japanese poultry to be slaughtered after detection of avian flu

 

 

Japan's Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry began to slaughter over  23,000 chickens at a poultry farm in Shimane Prefecture on November 30 after five dead birds found the previous day had tested positive for highly-pathogenic avian flu, ministry officials said.

 

This is the first time that the authorities have slaughtered livestock before confirming they are infected with such a virus in full-scale tests. It is expected to take a few days for the ministry to complete the cull.

 

The ministry is also set to ban the transfer of chickens as well as chicken meat and eggs within a 10-kilometre radius from the poultry farm, an area that includes part of Tottori Prefecture.

 

Shimane Governor, Zenbee Mizoguchi, urged prefectural government officials to take every possible measure to prevent the spread of the disease.

 

"I'd like them to work closely with the national government to prevent the spread of the disease. I'd also like them to clarify the cause of the infection and consider preventive measures," he said on November 30.

 

The owner of the poultry farm in Yasugi found five of the farm's 23,300 chickens dead on the morning of November 29, and immediately alerted the local government.

 

The chickens tested positive for highly-pathogenic H5 avian flu in simple tests taken by the prefectural government, and genetic tests conducted later indicate the birds were highly likely to have been infected with the virus.

 

The Shimane Prefectural Government will submit the dead chickens to the governmental National Institute of Animal Health in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, to confirm if they were infected with the H5 virus. The final results will be announced sometime around the night of December 1.

 

The Shimane and Tottori prefectural governments began on November 30 to disinfect trucks and other vehicles used by poultry farms at 11 locations within a 10-kilometre radius of the Yasugi poultry farm.

 

The Shimane Prefectural Government conducted blood tests on 50 chickens randomly selected from among some 70,000 kept at three poultry farms in the area to see if they have been infected.

 

Prefectural officials have visited the three farms and confirmed that no abnormality has been found in any of the birds.

 

Tottori prefectural officials are interviewing the owners of 84 poultry farms in the prefecture to see if any of their three million-odd birds have shown symptoms of avian flu.