April 1, 2004
Japan Set To Make Bird Flu Free Declaration In Mid-April
Japan is hoping to declare itself free of bird flu and lift a ban imposed in the affected areas if there are no fresh reports of the virus, an Agriculture Ministry official said on Thursday.
Japan, which discovered its first case of bird flu in nearly 80 years in January, has reported a total of four outbreaks of the virus, all of which have been identified as the H5N1 strain.
The first two cases have already been declared over.
Japan is still looking into the third and fourth outbreaks, which were reported in Kyoto and neighboring Osaka prefecture in western Japan in late February and early March.
"If there are no fresh reports of the virus in the area...we expect to be able to declare an end...on April 13," an Agriculture Ministry official said.
He said a panel of experts would be called to review the situation and make a final decision.
An end to an outbreak can be declared if at least 21 days have passed since all measures to stamp out the virus have been completed, including the culling of poultry. There must also be no new traces of the disease, such as new reports of the virus.
The current ban, imposed immediately after the outbreaks, has prevented farms located within a 30-km (20-mile) radius of the outbreaks to transport eggs and chickens, even between farms within the radius.
The latest ban was eased on Thursday, although farmers still aren't allowed to transport chickens outside the restricted areas.
Vietnam, one of the countries hardest hit by avian influenza or bird flu, on Tuesday said it had stamped out the epidemic, which killed 16 people in the country.
No new outbreaks have been reported in the country for more than one month.
In Japan, police on Wednesday arrested the president of Asada Nosan Co in Kyoto prefecture and two others at the firm on suspicion of failing to report large-scale deaths of chickens on a company farm. The deaths were later traced to bird flu, becoming Japan's third outbreak of the virus.
