Guest guest Posted January 13, 2004 Report Share Posted January 13, 2004 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 © All rights reserved Hotjobs: Enter the " Signing Bonus " Sweepstakes http://hotjobs.sweepstakes./signingbonus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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