Japan confirms bird flu has been found in livestock and now will cull 91,000 chickens
An outbreak of highly pathogenic bird flu was confirmed on Thursday at a poultry farm in western Japan’s Kagawa prefecture, according to the prefectural government, making it the first bird flu case affecting livestock in Japan this season.
The Kagawa prefectural government plans to cull around 91,000 chickens at a farm in the city of Sanuki, after genetic tests showed that they had become infected.
The farm notified the prefectural government of a suspected bird flu case on Wednesday, saying 55 chickens in one of its poultry houses had died.
In preliminary tests, three of 11 chickens tested positive. Genetic exams on the chickens began Wednesday, and authorities confirmed their results on Thursday.
Any movement of poultry and eggs will be restricted in a radius of 3 kilometres (1.8 miles) from the infected site and farms within its 10km (6.2 mile) radius will be banned from transporting birds and eggs out of the area.
The farm has stopped shipping chickens elsewhere and the prefectural government has cleaned the area with disinfectants.
