Japan's Kagawa Prefecture Detects Seasonal Third Hotbed Of Bird Flu - Reports

TOKYO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd November, 2022) Japanese prefecture of Kagawa has registered the third hotbed of bird flu this fall, after a regional poultry farm raised the alarm over a rapid increase in chicken deaths, the Kyodo news agency reported on Wednesday.

A genetic analysis confirmed the presence of a highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza in the dead birds on one of the prefecture's farms, according to the media outlet. However, since farm employees have visited two more facilities in the region, around 34,000 chickens will reportedly be culled on a total of three farms.

A quarantine has been introduced for the transportation of chickens and eggs within a radius of a 3-kilometer (1.8-mile) zone around the farm, where the focus of infection was registered. In addition, the export of chickens and eggs outside the 10-kilometer zone is also prohibited, the broadcaster reported.

Prefecture authorities have already called 33,000 chickens since the detection of the second hotbed in the region.

This autumn, Japan registered bird flu outbreaks in the prefectures of Okayama and Kagawa, as well as on the island of Hokkaido. In total, about 2.5 million chickens have been culled in the country since the season's first outbreak on October 28.

Bird flu is a highly contagious virus that can cause influenza in birds and result in their deaths. In a period from the fall 2020 to spring 2021, Japan suffered the largest avian influenza outbreak in the country's history. The virus affected more than a third of the nation's prefectures, with about 10 million chickens culled in more than 50 farms.