February 5, 2007

Japan confirms fourth outbreak of H5N1 bird flu this year

Japanese authorities confirmed the country's fourth outbreak of the virulent H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus Saturday (Feb 3) at a poultry farm in the country's south.

About two dozen chickens were found dead at the farm in Shintomi, south-western Miyazaki prefecture, last month. The birds had been infected with the H5N1 strain deadly to humans, the Agricultural Ministry said Saturday.

The case marks Japan's fourth H5N1 outbreak incident this year and the third to hit poultry farms in Miyazaki, Japan's largest chicken-producing region.

Authorities have already culled thousands of birds to try to stop the spread of the virus. Officials began slaughtering the approximately 93,000 chickens at the Shintomi farm and are sterilising the site earlier this week.

The farm has also been quarantined, and chicken ranchers within a 10-kilometre radius are banned from transporting poultry or eggs out of the area while officials check that the infection has not spread.

The H5N1 virus has killed or prompted the slaughter of millions of birds across Asia since late 2003, according to the World Health Organization.