Japan culls 143,000 chickens to contain bird flu, as more European countries record cases

Japan has detected its first bird flu outbreak for the 2021 winter season, with farms in the United Kingdom and Poland also forced into mass culls by the disease.

Japan’s Agriculture Ministry confirmed a case of “highly pathogenic avian influenza” at a poultry farm in the north-east of the country, meaning about 143,000 egg-laying chickens were exterminated at the farm in Yokote city in Akita Prefecture.

Restricted zones up to 10 kilometres from the site have been established.

Last winter, Japan had its worst season of winter flu on farms yet, with more than 3 million chickens culled and a quarter of the country’s prefectures affected.

“Under the current situation in Japan, we do not believe that there is any possibility of avian influenza being transmitted to humans through the consumption of chicken meat or eggs,” the ministry said.

But an increase in the number of people in China getting infected from bird flu this year is turning into a source of concern among epidemiological experts, especially as the world slowly recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

China has reported 21 human infections with the H5N6 subtype of avian influenza in 2021 to the World Health Organization, compared with only five last year, it said, with six dead and many of the others critically ill.

Outbreaks of bird flu have also been reported in recent days and weeks in Europe with farms in Poland the latest locations for infections, totalling 650,000 poultry.

Poland is the European union’s largest poultry producer and has reported several outbreaks of the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu at farms, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

Five outbreaks, four at turkey fattening farms and one at a chicken broiler farm, were found in the eastern part of the country, while another was discovered at a turkey and goose farm in the western part of the country, the OIE said, citing a report from Polish authorities.

Bird flu, most often carried from one country to the other by migrating wild birds, has been spreading rapidly in Europe, raising concern in the poultry industry after previous outbreaks led to the culling of tens of millions of birds and international trade restrictions.

In Britain, an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5 bird flu was reported at a small poultry unit in central England, with all birds on the infected premises, near Alcester in Warwickshire, to be culled.

It comes less than a week after the country declared a nationwide Avian Influenza Prevention Zone, ordering farms and bird keepers to toughen biosecurity measures.

The H5N1 strain had previously been confirmed at small backyard flock of chickens in north Wales, among captive birds in east Scotland and at a bird rescue centre in central England.

The French government last week put the entire country on high alert for bird flu, extending a requirement to keep all poultry flocks indoors.

This comes after Dutch authorities last month also ordered commercial farms to keep all flocks inside after bird flu was reported on a farm, while Germany, Italy and Denmark have also recorded recent outbreaks.

ABC News

Tags: China, Turkey, Poland, Japan, bird flu outbreak, poultry farm, chickens