Japan confirms season's 1st Avian flu outbreak, over 1.4L birds to be culled

Tokyo, Nov 10 (IANS) Avian flu has been confirmed at a chicken farm in Akita prefecture, northeastern Japan, with around 1,43,000 birds of the farm to be culled, the prefectural government said Wednesday.Regarded as the season's first outbreak of avian influenza in Japan, it was confirmed through genetic testing carried out at a chicken farm in Yokote following a simple test the previous day in which the stock tested positive.The Akita prefectural government has banned the delivery of chickens or eggs from farms within 10 kilometers of the affected farm and asked the Self-Defense Force to send troops to help resolve the issue, Xinhua news agency reported.Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called for the collection of information and requested the farm ministry and other government agencies to work jointly to take prompt and thorough preventive measures.On Tuesday morning, a veterinarian reported to local health authorities that the number of chickens dying at a farm in Yokote had been growing.A simple test given to 13 of the chickens from the farm showed 12 of them tested positive for avian flu, according to the prefectural government.
--IANS int/sks/dpb

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