The Ministry of Agriculture in Japan confirmed a highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak at a poultry farm in the eastern prefecture of Ibaraki. This marks the country’s second bird flu outbreak this season.
All of some 72,000 egg-laying chickens at the farm in Kasama, Ibaraki prefecture, will be culled, Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries said in a press statement.
Bird Flu in Japan
The Kasama farm reported Sunday morning that about 450 chickens were dead, according to the Ibaraki prefectural government. After a simple virus test showed positive results, a detailed genetic examination was conducted, it added.
This season’s first case was confirmed on a farm in Kashima City of the southern Japanese prefecture of Saga on Saturday, Xinhua news agency reported.
Bird flu is a fatal disease of chickens, turkeys, guinea fowls, and other avian species, especially migratory waterfowl. This virus that causes the bird infection can mutate to infect humans. It is a contagious disease and spreads from person to person through respiratory droplets while coughing and sneezing. The flu is different from a cold and the symptoms can vary from a mild disease with little or no mortality to a highly fatal, rapidly spreading epidemic depending on the infecting virus strain, host factors and environmental stressors.
Source: IANS
