TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s worst bird flu outbreak has spread to new farms and now affects more than 20% of the country’s 47 provinces, with authorities ordering slaughter after more poultry deaths.
The Ministry of Agriculture said over the weekend that about 11,000 birds would be slaughtered and buried after an avian flu was discovered at an egg farm in the town of Higashiyomi in the southwestern Japanese province of Shika.
Another eruption began in Kagawa province, where an eruption occurred last month, the ministry said Monday.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has said that the outbreak in Japan and neighboring South Korea was one of two separate avian influenza (HPAI) outbreaks that have affected chickens worldwide.
The strain spread in Asia and one in Europe appeared in wild birds.
“The virus found in Japan is genetically very close to the latest Korean viruses, so the virus has been related to Europe since early 2020 and is not currently spreading in Europe,” Mathur Thinkra, a senior animal health officer at the FAO, told Reuters in an email. .
“This means there are currently two distinct H5N8 HPAI infections in East Asia and Europe,” he said.
The FAO has warned African health officials to keep a close watch on farms to prevent the spread of the latest European strain there.
In Japan, 10 out of 47 countries in the country have been affected by the eruption, and about 3 million birds have been selected to date, a record number.
Agriculture Ministry officials told Reuters this week that all farms in Japan had been ordered to disinfect facilities beforehand, check health regulations and ensure that nets for expelling wild birds were properly installed.
Japan has suspended poultry imports from seven countries, including Germany.
Japan has a herd of about 185 million laying hens and a broiler population of 138 million, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
(Graphic: Bird flu outbreak in Japan -)
Report by Yuga Obayashi and Aaron Sheldrick; Editing Stephen Coates