Japan to cull 19,000 chickens after detecting signs of bird flu

Japan will cull about 19,000 chickens after detecting that they were exposed to bird flu, authorities said today.

Chickens at Ishikawa farm in Ibaraki prefecture (state), about 65 miles north of Tokyo, had developed antibodies to fight off a strain of bird flu, Ibaraki official Yoshiko Otani said.

Further tests were being carried out to determine whether the antibodies corresponded to the dangerous H5N1 strain, which has killed at least 69 people in Asia since late 2003. The H5N2 strain, which is not dangerous to humans, has been more common in Japan.

Hundreds of thousands of birds have already been destroyed at dozens of other Ibaraki farms over the past few months following bird flu outbreaks involving the H5N2 virus.

The tests showed the birds at Ishikawa farm were exposed to a virus in the H5 group.

The prefecture has prohibited the movement of chickens or eggs in a three-mile radius around the farm.

Bird flu hit Japan last year for the first time in decades. There has been one confirmed human case involving the H5N1 strain, but no reported human deaths.