Third bird flu outbreak confirmed in Japan with H5N8 strain
Tokyo: A poultry farm in Japan was confirmed to have been infected with highly pathogenic bird flu subtype H5N8, the agriculture ministry announced Tuesday.
On Monday, a farm with approximately 11,000 egg-laying chickens was found to have the outbreak, according to the ministry on its website.
“The NA subtype of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus was identified and it was confirmed to be H5N8 subtype,” the ministry said.
Globally, epidemiologists are growing increasingly concerned about the increase in cases of bird flu this year, particularly as the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the World Health Organization, China reported 21 human cases of avian influenza H5N6 in 2021. Last year, there were only five cases, with six deaths and many others critically ill.
Earlier this year, Russia registered the first case of H5N8 being transmitted to humans from birds and reported the case to the World Health Organization. There was no evidence of human-to-human transmission at the time.
After reporting the first outbreak, Japan temporarily suspended chicken meat and egg exports from all regions. However, according to the ministry, humans are not at risk from consuming infected items. More than a third of Japan’s prefectures were affected, and almost 10 million chickens had to be culled last winter.
There are around 181 million hens in Japan that lay eggs and 140 million chickens that broil, according to Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture. The National Health Service in Britain reports that anti-viral treatments can combat bird flu, but that there is no vaccine for humans.
