CRISISBOOM

Nearly 40,000 chickens were killed Monday at a poultry farm located in Japan after tests confirmed dead chickens found on Sunday tested positive for bird-flu.

The farm located in the southern region of the country in Miyazaki prefecture on the island of Kyushu was the site of where 90 chickens were found dead.

The incident marked the sixth outbreak of the deadly virus in the region and ninth in the country.

Further tests will be conducted to ascertain whether the virus is the H5N1 strain which has caused the most disease and death in humans or if it was a less virulent strain of the avian flu, such as H5N2.

In November, avian flu was found in the western prefecture of Shimane and also has been confirmed in wild birds across the country.

Over the last few days nearly 600,000 chickens were killed in Miyazaki in government efforts to control the disease.

“It’s spreading quickly,” said Koji Saito a spokesman for the Japanese Agriculture Ministry in charge of sanitation of livestock farming in Miyazaki Prefecture.

Japanese Agriculture Ministry officials are reporting the virus won’t affect humans if meat and eggs consumed from infected birds is fully cooked.

This flu season there haven’t been any human infections according to authorities. Typically bird to human infections is spread largely by direct contact with infected birds.