Bird flu detected in Ibaraki farm

Virus described as weak still prompts 5-km quarantine

MITO, Ibaraki Pref. (Kyodo) A weak H5N2-type strain of the avian influenza virus has been detected in chickens at a poultry farm in Mitsukaido, Ibaraki Prefecture, where about 800 of its 25,000 chickens died between March and May, it was reported Sunday.
The Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Ministry announced a ban on transporting chickens and eggs out of a 5-km radius around the Arebamento Kanto farm to prevent the virus from spreading.

Ibaraki Prefecture officials who checked the site and about a dozen nearby farms Saturday found no further abnormalities.

On Monday, the authorities will begin culling all of the chickens at the infected farm and disinfecting the site.

Eggs from the farm have been shipped to market through distributors in Saitama Prefecture and retailers in Tokyo.

But farm ministry officials said the virus cannot be transmitted to humans through consumption of eggs or meat from the infected chickens.

The H5N2-type is a weak strain of the bird flu virus, compared to the more deadly H5N1-type that hit Japan last year in Yamaguchi, Oita and Kyoto prefectures.

Those outbreaks were the first in Japan in decades, and they caused the death or extermination of more than 300,000 chickens.

The farm reported the case to the Ibaraki Prefectural Government on Friday after a simple test conducted by a private organization at the farm's request turned out positive for the virus. The infection was confirmed by the National Institution of Animal Health by Sunday.

The number of eggs laid by chickens at the farm has recovered to normal and there have been no more mass deaths of the birds.


'U.S. slighting consumers'
LOS ANGELES (Kyodo) The head of a Diet delegation probing U.S. countermeasures to mad cow disease criticized the U.S. Agriculture Department on Saturday for pressing Japan to resume beef imports without trying to understand consumer sentiment.
"They are telling Japan that U.S. beef is safe, so buy it, using only seller's logic, and they don't understand how Japanese, who are sensitive to food safety, feel about the issue," said Kenji Yamaoka, chairman of the House of Representatives Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Committee.

"And now they have a second case (of mad cow disease)," he said, suggesting that a resumption of imports won't come easily.

The weeklong visit to the U.S. by the committee members coincided with an announcement Friday by Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns of a second case of mad cow disease being confirmed in the country, and probably the first case involving an American-born cow.

"Japanese consumers cannot be reassured (of the safety of U.S. beef) by the way the United States explains it," Yamaoka said.

The Japan Times: June 27, 2005