Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday instructed relevant ministries and agencies to promptly take thorough epidemic preventive measures after the nation's third bird flu outbreak in less than a month was confirmed.
Abe also urged officials at the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry and other government agencies to closely cooperate in properly gathering information on-site and to ensure rapid disclosure of information to the public about the spread of bird flu, or avian influenza.
At a meeting of relevant Cabinet ministers, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said, "There is a concern that the epidemic could spread nationwide. Even during the year-end and new year holidays, we should continue to take all necessary measures in close coordination WITH each other if any further cases are confirmed." Speaking to reporters after the ministerial meeting, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Koya Nishikawa said, "The epidemic period in this year has started earlier than usual. I am very concerned." Nishikawa also said it is important to take an initial response to prevent the spread of bird flu.
The moves came as the highly pathogenic H5 type of bird flu virus was detected earlier in the day in Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan, following another confirmed case in the southwestern prefecture of Miyazaki on Monday. In mid-December, Miyazaki also announced the country's first confirmed bird flu case this winter. To prevent any infection from spreading, the Yamaguchi prefectural government culled about 37,000 chickens at a poultry farm. The authorities also imposed a ban on movements of some 144,000 chickens and eggs within a radius of 3 kilometers from the affected farm, as well as shipping out birds and eggs beyond the 10-kilometer radius zone.
Avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, is an infectious viral disease of birds. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), most avian influenza viruses do not infect humans, but some, such as H5N1 and H7N9, have caused serious infections in people. H5N1 virus has killed about people since 2003 to date, including those in Iraq and Egypt, while the H7N9 strain has claimed more than 170 lives since 2013, mostly in China