World News Avian flu kills 6,000 Yamaguchi chickens

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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 Jan. 12.

Officials said it is uncertain whether humans can be infected, 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 virus detected in the dead chickens is a strain of the H5 virus, the same category as the virus that triggered an outbreak of bird flu in South Korea last year, which killed around 21,000 ducks and chickens.

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 the area and started work to disinfect local poultry farms.

The health ministry ordered the farm to recall the eggs it shipped.

山口でニワトリ6,000羽死ぬ

山口県の養鶏場で12日、日本では1925年に発生したことがある鳥インフルエンザにより、先月28日から合わせて約6,000羽が死んだと報告された。

Shukan ST: Jan. 23, 2004

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