Japan, South Korea Cull 9 Million Birds In Flu Outbreaks

Japan and South Korea are struggling to contain the spread of a contagious, deadly bird flu strain that has forced the culling of 9 million chickens, ducks and quail since November.

The "highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N8" outbreak in wild birds and poultry has also been reported in 12 other countries, mainly in western Europe, since July.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said the outbreak in Japan and neighboring South Korea was one of two separate worldwide bird flu epidemics. It said both strains in Asia and one in Europe originated in wild birds spreading the disease during migration.

Japan on Monday said it had culled more than 11,000 birds after the flu was discovered at an egg farm in Higashiomi, Shiga prefecture in southwestern Japan, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

The ministry declared it Japan's worst outbreak. Since appearing late November the virus has spread to new farms and now affects 10 of the country's 47 prefectures. Some 3 million birds have been culled to date - a record.

The ministry said Japan has an egg-laying flock of 185 million hens and a broiler population of 138 million.

"The virus found in Japan is genetically very close to the recent Korean viruses and, thus, related to viruses in Europe from early 2020 - not those currently circulating in Europe," Madhur Dhingra, a senior animal health officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization, said.

"This means that we currently have two distinct epidemics in eastern Asia and Europe," she said.

On Monday, South Korea said it would accelerate the culling of poultry in affected areas. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs reported the country's first farm-related case in Jeongeup, some 290 kilometers south of Seoul, in late November.

South Korea has now culled 5.8 million birds - 3.3 million chickens, 863,000 ducks and 1.6 million quail.

On Friday, South Korea issued a temporary, two-day nationwide standstill order for poultry farms and related transport in a bid to contain a wider spread.