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Sunday, January 23, 2011

Japan : Tests spur Miyazaki chicken cull

Via The Japan Times :

" MIYAZAKI : The Miyazaki Prefectural Government said Saturday that six chickens from a poultry farm in the capital have been confirmed to have a highly pathogenic flu virus, prompting the central government to convene a task force.

The outbreak is the second to hit a poultry farm during the autumn and winter seasons since the November outbreak in Shimane Prefecture. Wild and free-range birds infected with the highly virulent H5N1 bird flu have been surfacing in Hokkaido and Tottori, Kagoshima and Fukushima prefectures since October. On Saturday, Hokkaido officials said the virus had also been detected in a weakened swan found in the town of Hamanaka.

The finding in Miyazaki is yet another blow to the prefecture's livestock industry, which was hit by bird flu in 2007 and a foot-and-mouth epidemic last year that led to the slaughter of about 290,000 cows and pigs."

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