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TOKYO : Japan confirmed Saturday a fresh bird flu outbreak but it was not clear if it involved the H5N1 strain, which is potentially deadly to humans.
The confirmation came after about 2,400 chickens died at a farm in the south of the country, including 1,650 on Friday alone.
"We confirmed that it was a case of bird flu. It was caused by an H5 strain," said an official with the Miyazaki prefecture government.
It was not immediately clear, however, whether it was the H5N1 strain of bird flu, the official said.
"We have isolated chickens still alive at the affected farm and ordered the 16 other poultry farms within a 10-kilometer (six-mile) radius not to move chickens and eggs," he said.
Miyazaki prefecture is some 900 kilometers (558 miles) southwest of Tokyo.
Officials will cull the remaining chickens at the affected farm, which housed around 12,000 birds and has been put under a massive sanitation program.
Japan confirmed an outbreak of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in January 2004.
Since then, the nation saw several cases of outbreaks with the H5N1 strain as well as outbreaks with the less serious H5N2 virus.
Bird flu has killed more than 150 people worldwide since late 2003. There are fears it could mutate and trigger a deadly, global pandemic. - AFP /dt
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