The Japanese government on Tuesday (December 16) ordered the culling of roughly 4,000 poultry at a farm in western Japan after bird flu was detected in three of the chickens there, Japan’s Kyodo News reported.
Health authorities said three chickens from a farm in Nobeoka City, Miyazaki Prefecture, tested positive for a highly pathogenic H5 strain of avian influenza, Kyodo News said.
Local government on Tuesday began slaughtering all of the roughly 4,000 birds raised at the farm. Officials said they will complete all necessary procedures including burying and disinfecting the farm by the end of the day, Kyodo News said.
The central government also vowed to take all measures necessary to prevent the outbreak from spreading.
“The Prime Minister has ordered the government to make the utmost and immediate efforts to collect information about the situation, to implement thorough preventive measures, and to provide people information relevant to their daily lives,” government spokesperson Yoshihide Sugasaid in a regular news conference on Tuesday.
“The government will take full measures to prevent the disease from spreading,” Suga said.
Two nearby chicken farms were also asked by local health authorities to quarantine their chickens, Kyodo reported as local officials saying.
Authorities will conduct on-site inspections before they confirm if the epidemic has been contained or whether more measures will be needed.
Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan’s top poultry producing region, experienced a massive outbreak of bird flu four years ago which led to the slaughtering of about a million chickens.
Around 28.19 million birds, which accounts for about 20 percent of the poultry demands in the country, are being raised in Miyazaki, according to data by the agricultural ministry.
Avian flu is an infectious viral disease of birds. Most bird flu viruses do not infect humans, but some have caused serious infections in humans, according to the World Health Organization.
Japan has been one of the Asian countries with South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan that have banned imports of Canadian poultry products after the recent detection of avian influenza on two farms in British Columbia. (Reuters)