#h5n1 Japan-Tottori avian flu hunt finds 23 dead birds

Monday, Dec. 20, 2010

TOTTORI/TOYAMA (Kyodo) Tottori Prefectural Government experts found 23 dead birds Sunday in the city of Yonago during field studies conducted to look for abnormalities after a strain of the highly pathogenic avian flu virus was found in a dead swan.

On the lookout: A staffer Sunday at the Botanic Gardens of Toyama checks migratory birds for signs of avian flu after the virus was detected in a dead swan. KYODO PHOTO

The experts said they will send the birds to Tottori University in an effort to determine if they were infected with the deadly bird flu virus.

About 20 animal specialists from Tottori patrolled roads, stretches of coastline and other areas within a 10-km radius of a house in the city of Yonago where an infected swan was found, and within a 10 km radius of a poultry farm hit earlier by bird flu in the neighboring city of Yasugi in Shimane Prefecture, officials said.

The house and farm are 7 km away from each other.

The Tottori prefectural branch of the Wild Bird Society of Japan also conducted an emergency check of rivers and lakes but did not found any dead or dying birds, they said.

An ill young tundra swan was found on Dec. 4 on the balcony of the house in Yonago and died the next day. The DNA structure of the H5N1 strain of flu virus it was carrying was "partially identical" to the strain confirmed at the Yasugi farm early this month, suggesting a connection, a university expert said Saturday.

In Toyama Prefecture, where the H5 strain of bird flu was detected in one of two dead swans found Thursday in a park in Takaoka, experts visited poultry farms in the city and observed some 2,000 migratory birds through binoculars at a botanical garden in the city of Toyama.

The experts also conducted on-site inspections at chicken farms and other facilities, including the prefecture's farming research center, to check that they had been disinfected and bird nets were being used properly to prevent the entry of wild birds.

Samples from the infected bird, a mute swan, have been sent to the National Institute of Animal Health in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, for tests to determine if the virus is highly toxic, local officials said.

In the wake of the bird flu infections in Tottori and Toyama prefectures, Hyogo Prefecture also said it will stop displaying white storks, designated as a special national treasure, raised at its park in Toyooka, to prevent contact with infected wild birds.