OKAYAMA: A highly pathogenic bird flu outbreak is suspected at a chicken farm in the city of Kurashiki in the western Japan prefecture of Okayama, the prefectural government said Thursday.

The bird flu outbreak, if confirmed by a genetic examination, is the first in Japan this season.

Once the outbreak is confirmed, the prefectural government will cull all chickens at the farm, totaling some 170,000, and restrict transfers of eggs and chickens from all farms within 10 kilometers of the farm in question.

According to the farm ministry, no bird flu outbreak has occurred at any farm in the country in October or earlier. The earliest outbreak in a season so far is the one confirmed on Nov. 5, 2020.

As bird flu infections have been spreading in Europe and Asia in recent years, the ministry is calling on chicken and other farms to take precautions.

According to the Okayama prefectural government, a local livestock health and hygiene center received a report on Thursday afternoon from the farm saying that an increasing number of its chickens are dying.

A simple test for bird flu was then conducted on 13 chickens at the farm, and 12 of them were positive.

JIJI Press