· Japan confirms first bird flu case in livestock this winter
· Russia uses army to tackle AI in Kostroma Oblast
Japan confirms first bird flu case in livestock this winter
The Japan Times
Jan 11, 2018
Kyodo, JIJI | TAKAMATSU – A highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza has killed chickens at a poultry farm in Kagawa Prefecture according to the prefectural government, making it the first bird flu outbreak affecting livestock in the nation this winter season.
On Thursday night the Kagawa Prefectural Government announced that a positive result in genetic tests confirmed that the disease was caused by a pathogenic strain of influenza virus.
The Kagawa Prefectural Government was set to start culling around 91,000 chickens on the farm in the city of Sanuki later Thursday night, with help from the Self-Defense Forces.
The farm notified the prefectural government of a suspected bird flu case Wednesday morning, saying 55 chickens in one of its 15 poultry houses had died.
Now that the results of the genetic tests are known to be positive, all movement of poultry and eggs will be restricted within a radius of 3 kilometers from the infected site and farms within a 10-km radius of the site will be banned from transporting birds and eggs out of the area.
The farm has stopped shipping chickens elsewhere and the prefectural government has cleaned the area with disinfectants.
After being informed of the suspected avian flu outbreak, the prefectural government on Wednesday set up a task force headed by Kagawa Gov. Keizo Hamada to deal with the situation. The agriculture ministry has established its own team.
Agriculture minister Ken Saito called for cooperation between the central and local governments, and for all possible measures to be taken to prevent further spread of the bird flu virus.
Residents in the city and local chicken farmers alike have expressed their hope that the situation will not turn into a “serious” incident. “I never imagined that a case of influenza would occur around here,” said a noticeably anxious local resident. In response to the incident, prefectural authorities have set up seven locations where livestock related vehicles can be cleaned to lessen the chances of spreading the virus.
According to the prefecture, chicken farming is the largest livestock industry in the area...
Russia uses army to tackle AI in Kostroma Oblast
By Vladislav Vorotnikov, GlobalMeatNews
The Russian Army has been deployed to help deal with the aftermath of the largest outbreak of the avian influenza (AI) in Kostroma Oblast, where 600,000 chickens have been culled, according to a 9 January report in the Russian Gazette, the official publication of the country’s government.
The outbreak of the AI strain H5N2 was first registered at the Kostromskaya poultry farm on 19 December and the AI diagnosis confirmed several days later.
Regional authorities had to employ the help of chemical defence troops from the Russian Army to carry out a set of quarantine measures at the facility, including the removal of biological waste from the factory, said deputy governor of the region Alexey Smirnov.
Both personnel and military machinery were used at the site of the outbreak, Smirnov said, as he revealed the army originally started working at the farm in late December.
This is the first time Russian authorities have used the military to deal with the outbreak of a veterinary disease. In all previous cases, resources from the Russian veterinary watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor and the regional veterinary bodies have been sufficient to handle the outbreaks.
Kostromskaya was one of the largest poultry farms in Kostroma Oblast. It supplied...