Reuters reported that about 200,000 chickens are being culled at a farm in Kameoka, Kyoto Prefecture, after a positive avian-influenza test. A government spokesperson confirmed on Nov. 12 that the case was Japan’s first poultry-farm avian influenza case of the season.
The farm ministry attributed 14 deaths to the virus and did not identify its strain. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said the government was asking poultry farmers to follow strict hygiene standards.
The poultry case follows a separate investigation involving a dead goose in Kurihara city, Miyagi Prefecture. Japan designated a surrounding 10-kilometer area for priority wild-bird monitoring after a preliminary test detected avian influenza. Genetic testing had not confirmed whether that virus was highly pathogenic, according to an earlier report on the wild-bird monitoring zone.
