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Post by Watchman on Jan 16, 2007 12:31:41 GMT -5
The Associated Press January 16, 2007
CBNNews.com - TOKYO - Tests have confirmed that bird flu detected in chickens in southern Japan was the virulent H5N1 strain that has been blamed for more than 160 human deaths worldwide, the Japanese Agricultural Ministry said Tuesday.
About 4,000 chickens died last week at a farm in Kiyotake town in Miyazaki state.
Earlier test results Saturday only confirmed the bird flu strain was an H5 virus but not which one.
On Tuesday, further tests by the National Institute of Animal Health near Tokyo identified the virus as H5N1, Agricultural Ministry official Hiroyuki Ozono said.
Miyazaki officials on Monday burned all the dead birds and 8,000 surviving chickens at the farm.
The government has banned the shipment of eggs and nearly 200,000 chickens at 16 farms within about a 6-mile radius of the affected farm, where local authorities were to take further disinfectant measures Tuesday.
Since 2003, the H5N1 bird flu strain has killed at least 161 people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Japan has confirmed one human case, but reported no human deaths.
Most of those killed have been infected by sick birds, but WHO fears the virus could mutate into a form that easily spreads among humans, possibly sparking a pandemic.
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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