Bird flu outbreak suspected at chicken farm in Kagawa Pref.

January 11, 2018

Tokyo- An outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza is suspected at a chicken farm in the city of Sanuki, Kagawa Prefecture, western Japan, the prefectural government said Wednesday.

If a detailed genetic test confirms the outbreak, it will be the first avian flu case at a poultry farm in the country this winter and the prefectural government will destroy all of some 51,000 chickens at the Sanuki farm.

Fifty-five chickens were found dead at the farm on Wednesday morning. A simple test was conducted on 11 of the birds, and three of them tested positive for the highly pathogenic bird flu virus, according to the prefecture.

Once the outbreak is confirmed, the prefecture will ban the transfers of chickens and eggs from farms in areas within 10 kilometers from the affected farm and sterilize all passing vehicles on main roads.

Regarding the genetic test, an official of the prefectural government told a press conference early Thursday, "It's difficult at the moment to make a clear conclusion as to whether the suspected bird flu is highly pathogenic."

The prefecture will continue a detailed analysis. Based on the result, it will decide whether to conduct further testing.

After receiving the information of the suspected avian flu, the prefectural government set up a task force headed by Kagawa Governor Keizo Hamada on Wednesday to deal with the situation.

The agriculture ministry established its own team. Agriculture minister Ken Saito called for full-fledged measures to prevent the spread of the possible bird flu to be taken through close cooperation between the central and local governments.

If a test to be conducted 10 days after the completion of the culling and disinfection finds that the virus is unlikely to spread, the ban on the transfers of chickens and eggs will be lifted for poultry farms in areas 3-10 kilometers from the affected farm.

The ban for farms within a 3-kilometer radius will be removed if it is judged after 11 more days that the outbreak has been contained.

In Japan this winter, seven cases of highly pathogenic flu infection have been confirmed among wild birds, all in the western prefecture of Shimane.

There have been no reports of human bird flu infection in Japan through the consumption of poultry or eggs. Jiji Press