More than 17 million birds have been culled this season, the highest number yet.
Land shortages in Japan have hampered the mass culling of millions of birds due to a record outbreak of bird flu, public broadcaster NHK reported on Tuesday.
More than 17 million birds have been culled in the Asian country this season for bird flu, that is, around 9% of domestic chickens, the highest number so far.
The outlet, which contacted the 26 prefectures (out of a total of 47) that reported outbreaks this season, revealed that 7 of them had reported 9 cases of land shortage. In addition, 12 agencies recorded 14 situations in which the land was rendered useless.
Experts stress that the measures to be taken to prevent further spread of the virus should be studied and that incineration should be promoted or the number of birds to be slaughtered should be reduced.
- This disease is spreading in various countries in the world, such as Japan, Cambodia, China and others. The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that humanity needs to prepare for a scenario in which the bird flu virus could unleash a new pandemic.
- WHO data indicates that there were more than 860 confirmed cases of bird flu in humans from 2003 to 2023. More than half of those infected died.
- In Latin America, Chile has detected more than 1,500 dead sea lions during the first quarter of 2023. Specialists linked these deaths to the H5N1 avian flu. Likewise, the country’s Ministry of Health confirmed, last Wednesday, the first case of avian flu in humans.