Chickens at a poultry farm in Izumi, Kagoshima Prefecture, have been confirmed infected with a highly pathogenic avian flu virus, the prefectural government said Wednesday.
Elsewhere, suspected cases of bird flu were detected in Aichi and Kochi prefectures, raising concern the disease may spread across the nation.
After seven out of 10 chickens tested from the Izumi poultry farm were confirmed to be infected with the H5 bird flu strain, the prefecture had all 8,600 chickens there killed.