(JP) Avian flu kills 6,000 chickens on Yamaguchi farm

[Guest guest]

Last I heard the number of chickens that have died is

8,000. And the remaining some 20,000 chickens will be

destroyed.

 

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20040113a1.htm

 

Avian flu kills 6,000 chickens on Yamaguchi farm

 

YAMAGUCHI (Kyodo) Nearly 6,000 chickens have died of

bird flu at a poultry farm in Yamaguchi Prefecture

since Dec. 28 in the first outbreak of the disease in

Japan since 1925, it was announced Monday.

 

Officials said it is uncertain whether humans can be

infected with the avian flu strain found in Yamaguchi

Prefecture, but the virus was blamed for the deaths of

six people in Hong Kong in 1997 and 1998 and a

veterinarian in the Netherlands last year.

 

The officials said the virus detected in the dead

chickens is a strain of the H5 virus, the same

category as the H5N1 virus, which triggered an

outbreak of bird flu in South Korea last year that

killed around 21,000 ducks and chickens in the

country.

 

The farm ministry said the outbreak in Yamaguchi

Prefecture has had, and will have, limited impact on

the domestic market because of the area's small share

of national poultry production.

 

The prefecture's poultry industry accounts for less

than 2 percent of total production of eggs and chicken

meat in Japan, so the effect on the national market

has barely been noticeable and will be " very limited

even later, " said an official from the Agriculture,

Forestry and Fisheries Ministry.

 

Any potential ban on Japan's poultry exports would not

have a severe effect on the national economy, the

ministry believes, as Japan exported only 2,900 tons

of chicken meat and 30 tons of eggs in 2002.

 

The Yamaguchi Prefectural Government said it has

ordered the destruction of all chickens at the Win-Win

 

 

Farm, located in the town of Ato. It banned shipments

of eggs and chicken meat in an area within a 30-km

radius of the farm and started work to disinfect local

poultry farms.

 

The health ministry ordered the Win-Win Farm to recall

the eggs it shipped.

 

The farm had about 34,600 chickens. They began to die

in batches starting Dec. 28.

 

Sanitary officials inspected the farm Dec. 30 and the

virus was confirmed at the National Institute of

Animal Health in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, on

Sunday, officials said.

 

The officials said humans can be infected with avian

influenza but there has been no case in the past where

people got the virus by eating meat or eggs from

infected chickens.

 

Health authorities did not detect the virus in the

Yamaguchi farm's six workers or their five family

members in preliminary checks.

 

The prefectural government has set up a task force to

deal with the outbreak.

 

Japanese farms raise a total of about 240 million

chickens for eggs or meat, according to a 2002 poll by

the farm ministry.

 

Yamaguchi Prefecture is responsible for only about

4.17 million, or 1.7 percent, of that total. It

accounts for 47,000 tons, or 1.9 percent, of the

national production of chicken eggs and 1.2 percent,

or about 6.9 million chickens, for meat.

 

Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan Ltd., which uses domestic

chickens for all of its deep-fried chicken products,

said it is now looking into whether it has any

shipments from farms in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

 

The Japan Times: Jan. 13, 2004

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