ASIA/JAPAN - Bird Flu spreads: confirmed a new area of infection

Rome (Fides Service) - Japan had not been affected by bird flu since 1925, but now the situation is serious. The virus was detected in birds at a butcher business in Kyoto. The birds came from a local breeding centre where a murrain of chickens had been hidden from the authorities for a week.
Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture which had found the virus present in 10,000 birds which died in a large breeding centre with 190,000 chickens, said it feared that the serious delay with which the episodes were reported and controlled may be the cause of the spread of the virus.
First reported in January at Yamaguchi, where more than 30,000 birds were destroyed outbreaks of the virus H5N1, which has struck various Asian countries, were registered in Oita, on the southern Island of Kyushu. Last week two new suspected areas of infection were reported in Nagano 200 km north east of Tokyo and in Kyoto 500 km south west of Tokyo.
A third outbreak of bird flu was confirmed after the Kyoto regional authorities were forced to order the destruction of 130.000 chickens to restrict the virus. Another 70,000 were killed at Tanba, in Kyoto. There are no cases of infection of humans in Japan by the bird flu which has already killed 22 persons in Asia: 15 in Vietnam 7 in Thailand. (AP) (1/3/2004 Agenzia Fides; Righe:23; Parole:281)