JAPAN / Science & Health

Japan confirms H5N8 strain in third bird flu outbreak in the country

A man wearing protective gear inspects a container at a poultry farm. where a highly contagious strain of bird flu was found by Dutch authorities in the Netherlands in 2014. The same avian virus, H5N8, was confirmed by the Japanese agriculture ministry on Tuesday to be present at a chicken farm in Kagoshima prefecture. | REUTERS

Reuters

Nov 16, 2021

Japan has confirmed the highly pathogenic bird flu subtype H5N8 was detected at a poultry farm in the third outbreak of avian influenza in the country this winter, the agriculture ministry said on Tuesday.

The outbreak was discovered on Monday at a farm with about 11,000 egg-laying chickens in Izumi City in Kagoshima prefecture in southwestern Japan, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

It comes as several outbreaks of severe bird flu in Europe and Asia have been reported to the World Organization for Animal Health in recent days, in a sign the virus is spreading quickly again.

Japan confirms H5N8 strain in third bird flu outbreak in the country

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