December 15, 2020

Bird flu detected in 10th Japanese prefecture

Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said bird flu was detected at an egg farm in Higashiomi city in Shiga prefecture, southwestern Japan, the 10th prefecture to be affected by bird flu in the country's worst outbreak of the disease on record, Reuters reported.

The agriculture ministry also said another bird flu outbreak was detected in Kagawa prefecture, where the outbreak first emerged in November.

Around 3 million birds have been culled to date in Japan, a record number as 10 out of 47 prefectures in the country have reported outbreaks.

Madhur Dhingra, a senior animal health officer at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said the bird flu outbreaks in Japan is genetically close to recent South Korean cases but not the same as the one currently circulating in Europe.

She said there are two distinct H5N8 HPAI epidemics in east Asia and Europe, both believed to be spread by wild birds.

The FAO has alerted African health authorities to increase farm surveillance as there is a possibility the European strain could spread there.

Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said the country has an egg-laying flock of about 185 million hens and a broiler population of 138 million head.

- Reuters