Bird Flu Spreads

TOKYO - Japan's health authorities on Thursday said the fifth outbreak of bird flu since November have hit a farm in central Aichi region, when local officials began to destroy 150,000 chickens in the place. Since November, Japan confirmed five cases of bird flu in farms in four of the 47 prefectures of the country. Some 600,000 chickens have been destroyed. Avian flu was also hit Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures in the southwestern island of Kyushu, which is where the big farms. In Miyazaki, last year's foot and mouth disease (FMD) which attack the split-legged animals such as cattle, goats, pigs forced nearly 300,000 animals slaughtered their livestock.