Tick, Tick, Tick | 107 Avian Flu Deaths In Indonesia

Chickens - Experts say the danger is the virus may evolve into a form that people can easily catch and pass to one another, in which case the transmission rate would soar, causing a pandemic in which millions of people could die. Image Credit: FAO

Tick, Tick, Tick 107 Avian Flu Deaths In Indonesia

This morning, two deaths of adolescent Indonesians help to establish the island(s) nation as the most affected nation on Earth due to the bird flu virus.

One boy and one girl bring the total number of deaths to 107, and it is unclear wither these cases can be traced to “Cluster” human-to-human transfer of the virus even though the boy that just passed away had a brother die from the same disease.

There are still other individuals who have tested positive for the Avian Flu but have yet to succumb to the effects of the H5N1 virus of which there remains no cure.

Indonesia - Contact with sick fowl is the most common way of contracting the H5N1 virus, which is endemic in bird populations in most of Indonesia. According to United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) data on March 19, bird flu has infected 31 out of 33 provinces in Indonesia. Image Credit: FAO

This excerpted from Reuters -

Two Indonesian youths die of bird flu
By Mita Valina Liem; Editing by Ed Davies and Alex Richardson Reuters Mon Mar 31, 2008 3:05am EDT

JAKARTA - Two Indonesian youths have died from bird flu, a health ministry official said on Monday.

A 15-year-old boy from Subang, in West Java, died on Wednesday in an area where chickens had died, said Nyoman Kandun, director general of communicable disease control at the ministry.

An 11-year-old girl from Bekasi, east of Jakarta, who died on Friday also tested positive for the virus, the official said.

"There were dead chickens in the boy's neighbourhood, but in the girl's case it is still unclear," Kandun said via a mobile phone text message.
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Earlier on Monday, a 22-month-old girl from Sumatra's Bukit Tinggi tested positive for bird flu and the health ministry was checking her neighbourhood for possible backyard farming.

"Her condition is improving, and she is being treated at a Padang hospital," Lily Sulistyowati, a health ministry spokeswoman, said by telephone.

Including the latest deaths, Indonesia has had 132 confirmed cases of the virus.

Contact with sick fowl is the most common way of contracting the H5N1 virus, which is endemic in bird populations in most of Indonesia.

According to United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) data on March 19, bird flu has infected 31 out of 33 provinces in Indonesia.

Experts say the danger is the virus may evolve into a form that people can easily catch and pass to one another, in which case the transmission rate would soar, causing a pandemic in which millions of people could die.
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Tick, Tick, Tick - H5N1 Virus Hits Woman In China

A health worker vaccinates a chicken against bird flu at a Chinese farm. Chinese farmers also have used an anti-viral made for humans on chickens. Image Credit: China Photos Via Getty Images (2005)

Tick, Tick, Tick - H5N1 Virus Hits Woman In China

Migrating birds are the suspected source of the first virus transfer in 2007 to a flock of chickens as China steps up its second-phase clinical trials effort to create a vaccine.

The unusually warm spring weather is expected to hamper health officials' efforts at curbing the spread of bird flu due to the fact that migrant birds may stay longer within the borders of China.

China has not reported a poultry outbreak since September 20 last year, although the health ministry in January confirmed that a man in the eastern province of Anhui had contracted bird flu but subsequently recovered.

Excerpts from China Daily -

First human bird flu case in 2007 reported
By Shan Juan (China Daily) - Updated: 2007-03-02 06:57

A new human case of H5N1 bird flu, the first this year, was confirmed in China.
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A 44-year-old woman from a remote village in East China's Fujian Province was diagnosed on February 18 as having the virus, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

The villager, surnamed Li, had developed a fever after she had eaten two chickens she had raised.
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Li is reportedly in a serious condition at a local hospital. All who have had close contact with her are being closely monitored, although none have so far shown any symptoms of virus infection.

Zhang Changpin, vice-governor of the Fujian Province, has ordered the compulsory inoculation of all chickens, and has required local authorities to set up inoculation files and issue certificates for inoculated birds, Xinhua reported yesterday.

The Ministry of Health told Xinhua it had already notified the World Health Organization about the case.

Since 2003, the deadly virus has infected 22 people in China and killed 14.
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The virus remains essentially an animal disease, but experts fear it may mutate into a form that is easily transmitted to humans and trigger a pandemic.

The Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech, which is co-developing a H5N1 bird flu vaccine with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said it is ready for the second phase of clinical trials.

"Everything is ready for the second phase which will be carried out when the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) gives the nod," Chen Jiangting, director of the clinical trial research department of Sinovac told China Daily yesterday. "We filed the application last September."

She said the first phase of clinical trials on 120 volunteers showed the vaccine could provide 78 percent protection, and the figure meets the standard for seasonal flu vaccine set by the European Union.

"We are upbeat about the coming second phase of clinical trials," Chen said.
Reference Here>>

H5N1 Caution, Not Fear, For Food Marketing Institute

The supermarket is an exciting place for small children, but sometimes it can all get too frustrating and they go into overload. There are ways to make shopping a less stressful time for children and parents. Image Credit: New Zealand Ministry of Social Development

H5N1 Caution, Not Fear, For Food Marketing Institute

An "ounce of caution is worth a pound of cure" was a famous phrase in decades past that may make its way back into favor if the Food Marketing Institute has its attitude adopted.

The distribution channel for supermarkets is run so effectively that people only carry enough fresh food for about three to four days. When and if the H5N1 avian flu pandemic hits the human population, people will be urged not to go out into public and eat in public places.

So what is a food distribution system to do to make sure people who are able to live through the pandemic do not die from starvation?

Excerpts from The Associated Press via Business Week -

Grocers prep for pandemic run on food
By TIMBERLY ROSS - The Associated Press February 18, 2007, 2:06PM EST

OMAHA, Neb. - Stocking up on food is as simple as a trip to the grocery store, a veritable land of plenty for Americans.

"It's so easy when you have three grocery stores in your vicinity," said Becky Jones of Omaha, who stocks up once a week for her family of three. "You think: how could you possibly not get what you needed?"

But will fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, bread, milk and other household staples still be available if the U.S. is hit with an anticipated bird flu pandemic? If state and federal officials urge people to stay away from public places, like restaurants and fast-food establishments, will they be able to get the groceries they need to prepare food in their homes?
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Unlike other critical infrastructure sectors like water, energy and health care, the food industry isn't getting much help from state and federal governments when it comes to disaster planning. That puts the burden on individual supermarket chains and wholesalers to deal with a potentially large number of sick workers that could affect store operations and disrupt the food supply.

"The industry is actively thinking through contingency plans, so if it should happen, our members would be well prepared to deal with it," said Tim Hammonds, president of the Food Marketing Institute, an advocate for grocery wholesalers and retail supermarkets nationwide.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates a third of the population could fall ill if the H5N1 strain of the bird flu mutates into a form that spreads easily from person to person.
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But if a pandemic emerges, the Department of Homeland Security projects worker absenteeism to reach 40 percent or more over a prolonged period. Hammonds said retail food stores would have to contend with worker shortages and disruptions in the supply chain.

The food and agriculture industry is listed among 13 critical-infrastructure sectors that the Department of Homeland Security says must remain functional during a pandemic.

"Having those critical facilities open -- like power, water, food -- becomes very important" during a national disaster such as a pandemic, said Keith Hanson, an outreach coordinator for Nebraska's Center for Biopreparedness Education.
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Hanson said continued operations of power and water utilities are of the utmost importance, but grocery stores rank highly too. That's because people today keep less food on hand, opting instead to make weekly trips to the grocery store.

Americans are also dining out more than they have in the past. Money spent on food prepared outside the home rose from 34 percent of total food costs in 1974 to about 50 percent in 2004, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The Food Marketing Institute's Hammonds said a widespread pandemic will likely cause food consumption to shift away from restaurants and fast-food establishments and toward in-home eating, causing a greater demand for groceries.

"That means stores would need to be prepared for an increase in volume," he said.

Hy-Vee, a West Des Moines, Iowa-based supermarket chain that operates more than 200 stores in the Midwest, does not have a disaster plan developed in the event of avian flu. But company spokeswoman Chris Friesleben said the company keeps abreast of the illness through the Food Marketing Institute.

"The food supply is essential to the well-being of the community," said Hammonds. "We've been through a lot about what we need to do as a supermarket."

That includes urging wholesalers and retailers to talk with their suppliers about alternative sources for their products and to anticipate what products will be in high demand in a pandemic situation, such as medicines and food staples.

Stephanie Childs, a spokeswoman for Omaha-based ConAgra Foods Inc., said a company task force was formed more than a year ago to develop an operating plan in the event of a national disaster. The plan specifically addresses bird flu, examines areas that could be affected and how the company could respond, she said.
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The company employs about 27,000 people, but Homeland Security projections indicate that number could fall to 16,200 during a pandemic.

Childs said such worker shortages and difficulties with suppliers getting their products to ConAgra plants were among the potential problems the company identified. She did not disclose how the company would address those issues.

The federal government and public health agencies are urging people to stock up on nonperishable food, like canned goods and dried fruit, to ensure they have to food to eat during a pandemic.

Jones, the Omaha woman, said that's a proactive approach, but was worried that people with limited incomes may not be able to afford a large stockpile of food.

She stopped short of calling for the government to oversee the food industry's pandemic planning, but said, "If they see a crisis that is on the horizon, they do have to give us some type of warning."
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Tick, Tick, Tick – Soviet Poultry Plants Under Siege

A Russian veterinary surgeon inspects ostriches in a stable at a commercial farm in Toropovo in March 2006. Russian officials have announced measures to prevent the spread of bird flu, a day after the discovery of the deadly H5N1 strain at two farms near Moscow. Image Credit: AFP

Tick, Tick, Tick – Soviet Poultry Plants Under Siege

One might assume that if the ground is covered in snow and the temperatures are cold, viruses do not “take flight”.

In Russia, many forces may be at hand, including the hand of organized forces that would want to tip business their way … by eliminating the competition.

This virus outbreak cause may actually be in the form of an intentional HIT.

Excerpts from France 24 -

Russia moves to stop spread of deadly bird flu strain
by Victoria LOGUINOVA – France 24

Russian officials have announced measures to prevent the spread of bird flu, a day after the discovery of the deadly H5N1 strain at two farms near Moscow.

Confirmation of the strain, which is potentially fatal to humans who come into contact with infected birds, came on Saturday evening at Odintsovo and Domodedovo. Both are within a 50-kilometre (31-mile) radius of the capital.
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"We are taking all necessary measures," said Nikolai Vlasov, director of veterinary inspection for agricultural agency Rosselkhoznadzor.

"The farms have been disinfected. The experts are treating vehicles that are leaving the areas where the virus was discovered," said Vlasov, adding that access in and around the region had been restricted.

Last month, the H5N1 virus was recorded in poultry plants in the Krasnodar region, 1,000 kilometres south of Moscow, but the current outbreak is the first near the capital, home to more than 10 million people.

The Russian find follows recent outbreaks in Britain and Turkey, while Hungary reported the first detected case of the strain in January, the first such outbreak in the European Union since mid-2006.
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Russian authorities on Saturday said another farm at Podolsk, 40 kilometres south of the capital, was suspected of being contaminated after 44 dead birds were found, but tests had still to confirm this.

And on Sunday a fourth farm at Taldom, 110 kilometres north of Moscow, was under suspicion of housing a further outbreak, with authorities still conducting tests.

The birds belonging to the first three farms had been bought at Moscow's main poultry market on the southeast fringe of the city, which has since been closed.

A senior veterinary official in the region speculated that the birds may have been infected deliberately, a state news agency said Sunday.

"It is possible they had been contaminated at the market. We cannot rule out the possibility of bioterrorism," Ria Novosti cited Valeri Sitnikov as saying on an independent TV channel.

Vlasov, the director of veterinary inspection, dismissed the comments as paranoid, but an inquiry is underway at the poultry market and the relevant section of the market has been closed.

The H5N1 strain, which first emerged in Asia, has caused 270 reported human infections worldwide since 2003 and killed 164 as of last month.
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Tick, Tick, Tick - H5N1 Virus Takes 65th Victim In Indonesia

Garut regency, West Java, Indonesia (highlighted in bright green). Image Credit: Wikipedia

Tick, Tick, Tick - H5N1 Virus Takes 65th Victim In Indonesia

A 20 year-old woman and a 9 year-old boy die from infection to the H5N1 virus bringing a total of 65 deaths to Indonesia -- the most for any country in the world.

We all will really need to begin to worry (and begin praying) when hospital workers in Indonesia begin dying from H5N1 virus ... this will be human-to-human and it will be time for humanity to "go to ground".

Excerpts from The Jakarta Post -

Bird flu deaths in Indonesia reach 65
By Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo/Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post - February 11, 2007

JAKARTA (JP): Provincial administrations are being urged to follow Jakarta in banning backyard poultry, as two more bird flu deaths were reported Sunday in Garut regency, West Java.

A 20-year-old woman died at Slamet Hospital in Garut at about 1 a.m., followed by a 9-year old boy at 4:30 p.m.

"Let's use this as a reminder for all of us to keep poultry away from people," the director general of communicable diseases at the Health Ministry, I Nyoman Kandun, told The Jakarta Post . "Other provincial administrations should follow the Jakarta administration in its effort to keep poultry away from people. Our message is still the same: keep poultry as far away as possible from people and homes," he said.

Kandun said the deep-rooted tradition of people living near their poultry made it difficult for the government to stop the spread of the virus from birds to humans.

"Our biggest concern is still that the virus could mutate into a form where human-to-human transmissions are easy," he said.

Officials have confirmed that the woman who died early Sunday had contact with dead chickens before becoming infected with the H5N1 virus.
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West Java Health Agency head Yudi Prayudha said the woman showed the classic bird flu symptoms of difficulty breathing and a high fever.

The 9-year-old boy was referred to Slamet Hospital on Saturday evening. However, his family brought him home at about 3 a.m., before health officials convinced them to return the boy to the hospital later Sunday morning.
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Tick, Tick, Tick - The 'Bloody' H5n1 Virus Has Hit Britain

On farms, Turkeys are raised and kept where each bird is given approximately 3 square feet of space. Image Credit: Farm Sanctuary

Tick, Tick, Tick - The 'Bloody' H5n1 Virus Has Hit Britain

In a first time ever attack, the H5n1 virus has found its way to England.

This infection has health experts confused as to how the virus arrived on this island land mass. It is too early for the wild birds to be migrating this far north, however, the strain seems similar to the strains found in Hungary last month and France about one year ago.

Also yesterday, the World Health Organization has confirmed the first human infection and death to be attributed to the H5N1 virus in Nigeria. Nigeria has confirmed that several other people are now sick with the virus and officials are watching to see what else develops.

Excerpts from The Washington Times –

Britons strive to contain bird flu
Washington Times - February 4, 2007 - From combined dispatches

HOLTON, England -- Britain scrambled to contain its first outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu in domestic poultry yesterday after the virus was found at a farm run by Europe's biggest turkey producer.

About 2,500 turkeys have died since Thursday at the Bernard Matthews farm near Lowestoft in eastern England. The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said all 159,000 turkeys on the farm would be culled.

"We're in new territory," National Farmers' Union Poultry Board Chairman Charles Bourns said. "We've every confidence in DEFRA, but until we know how this disease arrived, this is a very apprehensive time for all poultry farmers."

The virus strain was identified as the highly pathogenic Asian strain, similar to a virus found in Hungary in January, DEFRA said.

It was the first time the deadly H5N1 strain was found on a British farm.

The entrance to the Bernard Mathews food processing factory being disinfected yesterday against the transmission of avian flu at Holton in Suffolk. Image Credit: Gulf Times - Doha, Qatar
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The strain tends to be transmitted to poultry by infected migrating wildfowl.

The disease has killed at least 164 persons worldwide since 2003, most of them in Asia, and more than 200 million birds have died from it, or been killed to prevent its spread.

But it has not yet fulfilled scientists' worst fears by mutating into a form that can be easily transmitted between humans and possibly cause a global pandemic.

Avian-flu specialist Colin Butter of the Institute of Animal Health said the British outbreak was surprising as it had happened outside the main bird-migration period.

"The next thing we need to know is if this is a primary or secondary case. If this is a secondary case, it is much more serious. If this is the first case, or 'reference case,' and we can stamp it out, the outbreak will be controlled," he said.

A protection zone was established with a radius of 2 miles and a surveillance zone of 6 miles around the infected farm. Bird-related gatherings, such as bird shows and pigeon racing, were suspended nationwide.
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Britain's poultry industry is worth $6.7 billion, with 800 million birds produced each year.

In May [2006], 50,000 chickens at three farms in Norfolk, also in eastern England and home to some of Europe's biggest poultry farms, were culled after another strain, H7N3, was detected.

A wild swan found dead in Scotland in March [2006] had the H5N1 version of the virus. It was thought to have caught the disease elsewhere, died at sea and been washed ashore in Scotland.
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Experts stressed the situation did not pose a public health threat, and that eating well-cooked poultry products posed no risk. However, close contact with sick birds, such as in slaughtering or plucking, could lead to transmission of the disease.
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UPDATE (2-12-2007):

British officials believe they have found the source of this outbreak of H5N1 in turkeys and further find that they are powerless to do anything about it.

Excerpts from Telegraph Media Group Limited (UK) -

Britain is powerless to stop turkey imports
By David Derbyshire, Consumer Affairs Editor and Charles Clover, Environment Editor, Telegraph - Last Updated: 2:31am GMT 12/02/2007

The Government was yesterday forced to defend its decision not to ban imports of turkey from Hungary as farmers' leaders demanded an urgent review of the movement of meat into Britain.

David Miliband, the Environment Secretary, said Britain was powerless to block imports under European law, despite concerns that the infection could have reached the UK from Eastern Europe.

His comments came as Bernard Matthews, the company at the centre of the scare, admitted that it had imported meat from a supplier just a few miles from a restricted area where the lethal disease was found in farmed geese last month.

The geese farm in Hungary that was hit by the H5N1 strain of bird flu and has been linked to the outbreak in Britain. Image Credit: Reuters

Last night it was claimed that six lorry-loads of turkey meat from inside the restriction zone in Britain had left for Europe in the last few days. Channel 4 News said the consignment had left with the full knowledge of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Meanwhile, the National Farmers Union heaped pressure on the Government, calling on it to review the laws on banning meat imports.

Government scientists are continuing to investigate the cause of the outbreak of the H5N1 strain of bird flu at a Bernard Matthews plant in Holton, Suffolk, two weeks ago.

They are concerned that the outbreak was linked to turkey meat brought to Britain from Hungary — a country badly hit by bird flu.
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Yesterday, there were reports that the Bernard Matthews company was still importing turkey meat from Hungary three days after the bird flu outbreak in Suffolk was confirmed.

Defra said the importation of 20 tons of meat was "perfectly legal" as it came from outside a restriction zone around the infected site in Hungary. "To ban imports would be illegal, unnecessary and vastly disproportionate," a spokesman said.

"It would invite retaliation from other member states, which would have a devastating impact on the UK's food and farming industry."

Last night Bernard Matthews defended sending turkey meat from the Holton plant to Hungary, after the restriction zone was imposed.

"Bernard Matthews can confirm that it imports meat from Hungary and exports it to Hungary as well," the company said in a statement. "All these imports and exports are regulated and Bernard Matthews adheres strictly to all the regulations."

Mr Miliband said import bans would breach European Union rules.

He added that it was now clear that there had been "a bio-security lapse" at the Suffolk factory farm that allowed contamination to get from a processing plant into the sheds housing live birds.

Mr Miliband told BBC1's Sunday AM that he would have imposed a ban on imports from Hungary if vets had told him that this was a "sensible" step to protect public health.
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Bart Dalla Mura, the firm's commercial director, said Saga Foods, the company's Hungarian subsidiary, sent meat to Britain from third-party suppliers all over Hungary, including an abattoir and processing plant in -Kecskemet in the south owned by Galfood.

This plant is near to the area where there was an outbreak of H5N1 last month in domestic geese. Mr Dalla Mura said: "Bernard Matthews can confirm that it uses the certified and regulated site in Kecskemet owned by Galfood. "Our information is that Galfood in Kecskemet is a turkey abattoir and processing site, and it does not slaughter or process geese at that site."

Mr Dalla Mura said the Suffolk plant imported about 38 tons of meat a week from Hungary but this would have to have been documented and registered as from outside the regulated area. He added that there were still no reports of the disease being found in Hungarian turkeys.

Peter Ainsworth, the Conservative spokesman for rural affairs, said the Government should have got a voluntary ban from Bernard Matthews on imports "much earlier than happened". Farmers renewed their calls for a review of import rules. Kevin Pearce, of the National Farmers Union, said: "At the moment it would be illegal to ban them, but if there was shown to be a risk to animal or human health, we need to act."

There are signs of a consumer backlash against turkey. Sainsbury's said sales of poultry were down 10 per cent. Somerfield reported a small dip.
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Tick, Tick, Tick - H5N1 Virus Hits The Rising Sun - UPDATED

Workers bury bags of slaughtered chickens from the Sato Broiler farm at a mountain near the farm in Hyuga, Miyazaki Prefecture, on Saturday. Image Credit: KYODO PHOTO

Tick, Tick, Tick - H5N1 Virus Hits The Land Of The Rising Sun

It looks as though that Chicken Teriyaki may be a little more difficult to come by in a couple of "Prefectures" (counties) in southwestern Japan.

Japan has been fairly safe from large scale bird flu infections throughout the history of avian flu spreading in populations of farm raised birds.

So this latest event in the "2006-2007" H5N1 flu season is troubling even though no human infections have been reported.

This from The Japan Times -

H5N1 AT SECOND FARM
Bird influenza feared at farm in Okayama
The Japan Times - Sunday, Jan. 28, 2007

OKAYAMA (Kyodo) The agriculture ministry announced Saturday that bird flu is suspected in the deaths of 22 chickens at a poultry farm in Takahashi, Okayama Prefecture.

The word came just hours after the ministry confirmed that the deadly H5N1 strain was detected in the second outbreak of bird flu this month in Miyazaki Prefecture.

The farm in Takahashi raises around 12,000 chickens. Two died Friday and 20 died Saturday, according to the ministry. It is having a laboratory conduct further analysis to nail down the precise cause.

Until an outbreak of bird flu is confirmed, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry and the Okayama Prefectural Government are planning to request that farms in adjacent areas do not move livestock, officials said.

In the first case this month, the ministry confirmed that the H5N1 strain of bird flu was found in dead chickens at a farm in Kiyotake, Miyazaki Prefecture.

On Saturday, the ministry also confirmed the H5N1 strain was found in dead chickens at a poultry farm in Hyuga, Miyazaki Prefecture, in the second outbreak this year.

A government lab analyzed samples from 3,000 chickens that died at the Sato Broiler farm in Hyuga. The farm had a total of 52,500 chickens, with a large number of deaths first reported there Monday.

The analysis found that the birds had been infected with H5N1, the agricultural ministry said in a statement.

The Miyazaki Prefectural Government started culling about 50,000 chickens raised on the Hyuga farm on Friday and continued the work Saturday.

The Hyuga case followed the highly virulent case of bird flu confirmed at a poultry farm in Kiyotake, about 60 km south of Hyuga.

The government confirmed Japan's first outbreak of avian flu in 79 years in January 2004 from chickens that started dying in late 2003 at a farm in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

Reports of infections of birds have been sporadic since then in Japan -- one H5N1 case in Oita Prefecture and another in Kyoto, both in February 2003, with the last report before the latest outbreaks being a weaker H5N2 strain infection in Ibaraki Prefecture in June 2005.
Reference Here>>

Two previous cases have been in Miyazaki prefecture. Image Credit: Associated Press

UPDATE -

Officials in Japan have confirmed a third outbreak of bird flu
Although they are still determining if it is the H5N1 strain dangerous to humans.
BBC - Monday, 29 January 2007, 06:02 GMT

About 40 chickens have died on a farm in Takahashi, in Okayama prefecture.

Officials have ordered all poultry there to be culled, and the movement of people and goods restricted.

Two bird flu outbreaks earlier this month in the southern prefecture of Miyazaki have already been confirmed as the H5N1 strain of the disease.

The Japanese authorities have already determined that the new case of bird flu belongs to the virulent H5 family of the virus, but further tests are needed to find out if it is H5N1, the strain potentially deadly to humans.

Officials, however, are taking no chances. They are due to start culling all 12,000 birds at the affected Takahashi farm as early as Tuesday.

Other farms in a 10 km (six-mile) radius have been banned from transporting chickens and eggs, a ministry official told reporters.

Thousands of chickens have already been killed in Japan's main chicken-producing region of Miyazaki, following two H5N1 outbreaks in two separate towns there earlier this month.
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