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TOKYO, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Central Japan's Niigata prefecture on Wednesday is investigating a case of suspected bird flu along its coastal area, following highly pathogenic bird flu detected in its inland area recently.
About 100 chickens were found dead from Tuesday to Wednesday at a farm in Joetsu city on the Sea of Japan coast, where there are around 230,000 chickens. Among seven of those chickens sent for a preliminary test, six were tested positive for bird flu.
Prefectural officials were quoted by local media as saying that they will conduct further genetic tests and will cull all the 230,000 chickens in the farm on Thursday before results of further tests.
Access to the farm has been restricted and workers in the farm have been asked to strengthen disinfection measures.
The prefecture on Tuesday began culling some 310,000 chickens at a poultry farm in Sekikawa village, about 140 km from Joetsu city, as highly pathogenic H5 bird flu strain had been detected.
Meanwhile, about 18,000 ducks have been culled at a farm in northeastern Japan's Aomori prefecture where ducks tested positive for H5 strain of virus.
Both the local governments of Niigata and Aomori have ordered farms within 10 km of the affected poultry farms to stop transporting eggs and poultry out of the areas.
It is the first time bird flu has been detected in Japan since 2015, when the country culled some 200,000 chickens following an outbreak of highly pathogenic bird flu in Okayama prefecture. Enditem
