H5 strain virus appeared in England and spread in Japan

On February 2, the British veterinary agency announced that the H5 strain of avian influenza has been detected on 1,000 dead chickens at a chicken farm in northeast London. Meanwhile in Japan, the government has confirmed that it has identified its fourth outbreak.

On February 3, the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture affirmed that a new outbreak of bird flu has been found in a poultry farmer in Shintomicho, Miyazaki Prefecture (southern), which caused the country to have four H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks. in which three outbreaks appeared in the same area, recorded since the beginning of the year. At this new outbreak, 80 poultry died of avian influenza virus on February 2. The killing of 93,000 laying hens was issued after authorities announced the cause of the chickens dying from the H5N1 virus.

The day before, the British veterinary agency announced the discovery of H5 strain in thousands of dead turkeys at a ranch near Lowestoft (Suffolk county, about 210 km northeast of London). The British government said it will conduct new tests to identify virus sources on these dead chickens and the results will be announced at the end of the week.

World health experts fear the return of H5N1 virus in Asia could cause a pandemic of bird flu spreading to the Middle East, Europe and Africa. Since its introduction in 2003, bird flu has killed at least 164 people, mainly in Asia, and has led to the killing of millions of poultry worldwide.

Japanese service staff gather chickens on a farm with dead chickens (Photo: TTO)

GERMANY SCHOOL