22.08.2005

The authorities said they have discovered a new case of avian influenza at a chicken farm near here, prompting health officials to order the culling of some 100,000 chickens.
The farm is in Ishioka (Ibaraki Prefecture), that keeps 1.11 mln chickens in 12 houses, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said in a statement. All birds at the farm will be culled except for those kept in enclosed poultry houses that were unaffected, the ministry said. Kyodo News agency said about 260,000 chickens would be culled.
Chickens at two other farms in Ibaraki were also tested and found to be carrying antibodies for the virus, meaning they were infected in the past but had survived.
It was one of three farms which supply chickens to another farm which was found last Thursday to have been hit by avian influenza.
There were four outbreaks in Japan last year.