Japan detected the first case of highly pathogenic H5-type bird flu this season at a poultry farm in the south of the country, public broadcaster NHK reported on Saturday.
The local government in Saga Prefecture will cull
about 40,000 birds on the farm, NHK said, citing agriculture ministry officials it did not name.
Ministry officials were not immediately available for comment outside of business hours.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will convene relevant cabinet ministers to discuss measures to prevent spreading of the virus, NHK said.
The virus was detected as a result of genetic testing conducted after
some poultry birds were found dead at the farm on Friday, the report said.
Highly pathogenic avian influenza has spread around the globe in recent years, leading to the culling of hundreds of millions of birds.
In Japan a record 17.7 million poultry birds were culled last season, prompting the authorities to stay on high alert.
Comment: Urdu Point
reports:
Bird Flu Outbreaks On German Farms Lead To Mass Culling
The highly contagious H5N1 strain of bird flu has been detected on three poultry farms in Germany, according to local authorities, leading to the culling of tens of thousands of animals.
At the most severely affected location, a turkey farm, it was the second bird flu outbreak this year. The first outbreak led to the culling of 17,000 animals in March, while 25,000 have been culled in the current outbreak.
"It is to be feared that the situation will continue to gather pace as the cold season approaches," said Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Minister of Agriculture, Till Backhaus, urging farmers to slaughter their animals early to "avert the threat of financial losses.
Like the H3N8 virus, which is known as the equine influenza virus, H5N1 has already been detected in humans. However, according to current research, transmission between humans is not yet possible.
Last year, Europe was hit by the worst bird flu season on record. According to the responsible authorities of the European Union, a total of 50 million birds were culled due to the virus between October 2021 and September 2022.
And that's just Europe, because in the US
at least 12 million birds were
culled.
The
BBC reports that outbreaks are also being
recorded in the UK:
Bird flu: Outbreak at Donnington commercial poultry site confirmed
Bird flu has been found in commercial poultry at a site in Lincolnshire.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the H5N1 virus was found at a property in Donnington. It is the first case confirmed in England since 1 October.
A 3km (1.86 miles) Protection Zone and 10km (6.21 miles) Surveillance Zone was put in place around the property.
The restrictions mean that all movement of birds and eggs in the protection zone must be monitored.
The UK Health Security Agency advise that bird flu was primarily a disease of birds and the risk to the general public's health is very low.
Bird flu is an infectious disease of poultry and wild birds that has been around for a century.
It usually flares up in autumn before fading away in spring and summer.
It can spread through entire flocks of domestic birds within a matter of days, through birds' droppings and saliva, or through contaminated feed and water.
More than 350 UK farms have seen infections between 2020 and 2023, according to Defra.
In Lincolnshire, which is home to many poultry farmers, it was estimated in excess of a million birds had to be culled in the two months following December 2021 after more than a dozen outbreaks were identified.
There's only so many mass culls, highly suspect food processing plant fires, and extreme weather events, that farmers and the food industry can suffer before it becomes no longer profitable - and that's not taking into account Western governments sinister attacks on food producers - and before shortages and prices spikes impact the food supply:
How would you cause mass poverty hunger and making the masses destitute?