Japanese authorities have confirmed the season’s first outbreak of avian influenza at a poultry farm in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido.
Workers at a farm in Shiraoi Town found several dead chickens on Tuesday. Preliminary testing detected bird flu virus.
The prefectural government convened an emergency meeting on Wednesday morning, with Governor Suzuki Naomichi in attendance.
It was reported that genetic tests revealed the birds were infected with the highly pathogenic H5 strain of bird flu virus.
Officials and private-sector workers have begun culling about 459,000 chickens at the farm. These chickens account for 8 percent of all egg-laying chickens in Hokkaido.
Officials have also banned the moving of chickens and eggs inside a neighboring farm that is within a three-kilometer radius while three other farms inside a ten-kilometer radius are banned from transferring chickens and eggs outside the area.
Prefectural government officials plan to complete the cull by October 30 and the disinfection of the henhouses by November 2.
A bird flu expert says an outbreak can happen anywhere, as migratory birds possibly carrying the virus use various routes to reach Japan. The expert says people around the nation should be on alert.
