Suspected 4th BF outbreak in Japan

[yielddude]

New bird flu outbreak suspected in Japan - farm min
Tue Jan 30, 2007 4:46 PM IST


TOKYO (Reuters) - A new outbreak of bird flu is suspected in Japan after 23 birds died at a poultry farm in the southwestern prefecture of Miyazaki, the Agriculture Ministry said on Tuesday.

Authorities are conducting preliminary tests on chickens at the farm, which keeps about 93,000 birds for their eggs, the ministry said in a news release.

If confirmed, it would be the fourth bird flu case reported in Japan since the beginning of the year.

On Monday, Japan confirmed its third outbreak of bird flu at a farm in the western prefecture of Okayama. Further tests are being carried out to confirm whether that case is due to the lethal H5N1 strain. The H5N1 virus has killed at least 164 people worldwide since 2003, most of them in Asia, and over 200 million birds have died from it or have been culled to prevent its spread.

There have been no reported cases of human infection from the virus in Japan.

Earlier this month, Japan had two H5N1 outbreaks among poultry in Miyazaki, the country's biggest poultry producing region.

There had been no H5N1 cases in the country for three years.

In 2004, Japan had four H5N1 poultry outbreaks between January and March, including one in Kyoto in western Japan in which 240,000 chickens were culled and 20 million eggs destroyed.

Last week, authorities in Hong Kong confirmed a third case of H5N1 virus found in dead birds, while six people have died of bird flu in Indonesia since Jan. 1.

http://in.today.reuters.com/News/ne...163607Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-285610-1.xml

 

[Niko]

Re: Suspected 4th BF outbreak in Japan

Another Outbreak of Bird Flu Hits Japan UPDATED - Tuesday January 30, 2007 6:53am
TOKYO (AP) - Another outbreak of bird flu was suspected in southern Japan on Tuesday after 23 chickens were found dead at a farm, fueling concern about a string of cases in the country's poultry industry. The latest outbreak occurred in the town of ****omi in southwestern prefecture of Miyazaki, which saw two separate bird flu cases earlier this month, Agriculture (website/news) Ministry official Yasushi Yamaguchi said.

The case would mark Japan's fourth bird flu incident in the past month. Authorities found 23 chickens dead at the farm in ****omi, and seven of 13 birds that were tested showed initial signs of bird flu, Yamaguchi said.

"We found the dead birds today and are investigating whether the virus is present," the official said. Results could take days.

The farm was quarantined and chicken ranchers within a six-mile radius were told not to transport poultry out of the area.

Separately Tuesday, officials were trying to determine whether the virus that killed dozens of chickens in the western prefecture of Okayama was the deadly H5N1 variety.

The H5N1 was pinpointed in the earlier Miyazaki outbreaks, which forced the slaughter of thousands of chickens in the region.

The H5N1 virus has prompted the slaughter of millions of birds across Asia since late 2003, and caused the deaths of at least 163 people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

Japan has confirmed only one human H5N1 infection, and no human deaths.

The bird flu virus remains hard for humans to catch, but international experts fear it may mutate into a form that could spread easily among people and possibly kill millions around the world.

http://www.katv.com/news/stories/0107/392797.html

Note: The first four letters of the village name was blocked - not done intentionally by me - Niko