As of Tuesday, 54 cases of bird flu have been confirmed in 23 prefectures in Japan this season.
At a poultry farm in eastern Japan’s Chiba Prefecture near Tokyo, a case of bird flu was confirmed through genetic testing, the prefectural government said, leading to the culling of about 10,000 chickens on site. KYODO reported.
Avian influenza has also been reported at a farm that raises emu birds in Fukuoka Prefecture in southwestern Japan, where about 430 of the birds have been culled.
The first bird flu case of the season was confirmed in October, with the highly lethal H5N1 strain detected from samples of infected chickens.
The previous record was set two seasons ago, between November 2020 and March 2021, when 52 cases were confirmed in 18 provinces, resulting in the culling of nearly 9.9 million chickens.
With bird flu spreading globally, it is believed to have been brought to Japan by migratory birds.
Rial