(JP) Govt confirms bird flu cases in Yamaguchi

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http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20040113wo21.htm

 

Govt confirms bird flu cases in Yamaguchi

 

Yomiuri Shimbun

 

The outbreak of a highly virulent strain of bird flu

has been confirmed at a poultry farm in Yamaguchi

Prefecture, where about 6,000 chickens have died of

the disease since Dec. 28, the Agriculture, Forestry

and Fisheries Ministry and Yamaguchi prefectural

government said Monday.

 

It marked the first outbreak of the disease in Japan

since 1925, a ministry official said.

 

The outbreak occurred at Win Win Farm, located in the

town of Ato. The farm breeds about 34,000 chickens

there.

 

According to the prefectural government and the

National Institute of Animal Health, the virus

detected in the dead chickens is a highly virulent

strain of the H5 virus, in the same category as the

H5N1 virus that triggered an outbreak of bird flu in

the central region of South Korea last month.

 

A ministry official said although there have been

cases of humans contracting the virus after contact

with infected chickens, there have been no cases

reported anywhere in the world of humans catching the

disease by consuming the eggs or meat of infected

chickens.

 

Nonetheless, the farm stopped shipments of eggs

Saturday under instructions from the prefectural

government.

 

The prefectural government said it has ordered the

slaughter of all the farm's remaining chickens, while

banning other farms located within a 30-kilometer

radius from shipping or moving chickens or eggs.

 

The prefectural government is expediting its efforts

to trace down the route of infection. None of the

workers at the farm or their families have contracted

the disease, and no neighboring farms have so far

reported any suspected cases, a prefectural government

official said.

 

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry also instructed

Win Win Farm to recall about 20 tons of eggs it

shipped from Dec. 28 through Friday.

 

The farm ministry began disinfecting all local poultry

farms, while quarantining Win Win Farm.

 

Outbreaks caused by the avian influenza virus have

occurred in such countries and regions as Hong Kong,

China, the United States and Germany.

 

Six people who were infected with the virus through

contact with infected chickens at poultry markets in

Hong Kong died in 1997, confirming the ability of the

virus to transfer from live infected chickens to

humans.

 

In South Korea, which was hit by an outbreak of bird

flue last month, local authorities have slaughtered

about 760,000 chickens, but there have been no reports

of humans being infected with the virus.

 

Since there have been no known cases of humans

catching bird flu by consuming the eggs or meat of

infected chickens, Masako Kurimoto, head of the farm

ministry's health control division, said there was no

need for excess caution.

 

The initial source of infection is believed to be

migratory birds, such as wild ducks.

 

The virus may pass from the migratory birds to

domestic fowl such as chickens and domestic ducks. It

then either infects humans directly through the fowl,

or after first passing through pigs and other animals.

 

 

There have so far been no cases of person-to-person

infection in the Yamaguchi cases.

 

 

 

 

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