Bird flu cases detected at poultry farms in Japan

Bird flu cases have been detected at two poultry farms in Japan, though it is not clear yet how pathogenic the cases were.

Some 40 chicken in a farm in Japan's Niigata prefecture were found dead Monday. All five of the chicken sent for a test were found positive for bird flu, according to the Niigata government.

The government said that further tests are being conducted and all 310,000 chicken at the farm would be culled immediately if the strain is found highly pathogenic.

The government has also asked farms within 10 km of the affected poultry farm to stop sending out eggs and poultry.

Bird flu cases were also found at a farm in Aomori prefecture in northeastern Japan. Nine ducks at the farm tested positive for bird flu, though it is not clear yet whether the strain is highly pathogenic.

Japan's environment ministry has recently raised the country's bird flu alert to the maximum level 3, as highly pathogenic H5N6 strain has been found in wild birds in multiple prefectures.

Japan culled some 200,000 chicken in 2015 following an outbreak of highly pathogenic bird flu in Okayama prefecture, western Japan. Endit