Japan Confirms Season's First Wild-Bird Case of Highly Pathogenic Bird Flu in Akita Crows
Akita Prefecture announced on November 6 that genetic testing had confirmed highly pathogenic avian influenza of the H5 subtype in two dead large-billed crows collected in the city of Yurihonjo, the first confirmation of the virus in a wild bird in Japan this season, Kyodo News and other Japanese media reported.
Seven crows were found dead in the same area of Yurihonjo between October 30 and November 2. The prefecture sent two of the carcasses to the National Institute for Environmental Studies, and both tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza. Japan's Environment Ministry designated a 10-kilometre zone around the collection site as a priority wild-bird monitoring area. One poultry farm lies within three kilometres of the site, and no abnormalities have been confirmed there.
On the same day, a whooper swan collected in Otofuke, Hokkaido, and an environmental sample taken in Izumi, Kagoshima Prefecture, also tested positive, bringing the season's wild-bird-related confirmations to three. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has told prefectures and poultry groups to tighten biosecurity, and neighbouring Yamagata Prefecture held an emergency meeting.
(Source: Akita Prefectural Government)
Source: Akita Prefectural Government
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：大嘴乌鸦（资料图，摄于日本大阪市天王寺公园）。照片 CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: A large-billed crow at Tennoji Park in Osaka, Japan, file photo. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
