Japan facing avian bird flu pandemic, 5th farm tests positive for virus

In Aichi Prefecture, some 450 chickens died in just four days through Wednesday, and four chickens have already tested positive in preliminary examinations for the virulent strain of the avian flu virus, Aichi prefectural government officials said.

Should the H5N1 bird flu virus be conformed in Toyashi, it would be the fifth outbreak this winter following cases in Shimane Prefecture in December and Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures this month.

Officials are concerned the pandemic could spread nationwide as a number of wild birds have also been found infected with the virus, including Japan's iconic hooded cranes who use a wintering place close to one of the infected farms.

Reiterating Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan's comments in the morning, farm minister Michihiko Kano told local reporters, "We will do our utmost to prevent the infection from spreading."

Chickens at a farm In Japan's southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima have also tested positive for bird flu, local government officials said Wednesday.

The prefectural government said that of the 10 birds tested for the virus, eight of them tested positive. The culling of around 8, 600 chickens has already started at the poultry farm in Izumi, Kagoshima Prefecture, according to the officials.

Two farms were found to have infected chickens in neighboring Miyazaki Prefecture, the nation's largest poultry-producing region, at the beginning of the week and the problem was deemed serious enough to despatch a 170-member Self-Defense Force team to help cull the birds; Kazinform cites Xinhua.

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