Wed Dec 21, 2016 |
A virulent strain of airborne bird flu extended its shadow across northeast Asia as Japan launched a new chicken cull on a southern island, days after gassing hundreds of thousands of birds some 2,400 kilometers (1,500 miles) to the north.
Tackling Japan's sixth outbreak since end-November, Kyushu authorities said they will gas just over 120,000 chickens after the H5 virus was detected on a farm. The island lies close to South Korea, which has ordered a record cull of 20 million birds since first reporting the H5N6 virus just over a month ago.
The outbreak in Japan's Miyazaki prefecture follows the gassing of more than 200,000 chickens at a farm in the northern island of Hokkaido last weekend and brings the country's cull this season to nearly a million chickens and ducks.
The cases in Japan - outbreaks before Miyazaki were all confirmed as H5N6 bird flu - are the first in nearly two years, with the bird cull now standing at its highest in six years.
A virulent strain of airborne bird flu extended its shadow across northeast Asia as Japan launched a new chicken cull on a southern island, days after gassing hundreds of thousands of birds some 2,400 kilometers (1,500 miles) to the north.
Tackling Japan's sixth outbreak since end-November, Kyushu authorities said they will gas just over 120,000 chickens after the H5 virus was detected on a farm. The island lies close to South Korea, which has ordered a record cull of 20 million birds since first reporting the H5N6 virus just over a month ago.
The outbreak in Japan's Miyazaki prefecture follows the gassing of more than 200,000 chickens at a farm in the northern island of Hokkaido last weekend and brings the country's cull this season to nearly a million chickens and ducks.
The cases in Japan - outbreaks before Miyazaki were all confirmed as H5N6 bird flu - are the first in nearly two years, with the bird cull now standing at its highest in six years.
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