Bird flu sweeps through Japan at unusual pace

Cases of the highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, are spreading at an unusual pace in Japan, with 18 outbreaks confirmed this season through Saturday at poultry farms in 12 of the country’s 47 prefectures.

But that number is expected to rise further, in line with global trends.

The agriculture ministry is asking farms to take thorough infection prevention measures and to swiftly find and report suspicious cases.On Oct. 28, the season’s first cases were confirmed at farms in Okayama and Hokkaido prefectures.

The cases marked the earliest outbreaks in a season recorded in Japan.This month, infections were reported intermittently in Kagawa, Hyogo and Ibaraki prefectures.

The number of chickens culled this season has totaled 2.89 million so far, already exceeding the previous season’s total of 1.89 million.

The largest number of bird flu outbreaks in a season in Japan stands at 52 outbreaks in 18 prefectures in 2020.Bird flu is raging in many other parts of the world, too. This year, a record 50.54 million birds were found infected in the United States.

In Europe, infections were even confirmed in summer, when no migratory birds carrying the virus were spotted.The developments have also sparked concerns about the price of chicken egg.

During the 2020 outbreak in Japan, most of the 9.87 million culled chickens were layers, accounting for some 5% of all such birds in the country at the time.As a result, egg prices increased to the highest levels since fiscal 2017.

According to the Japan Poultry Association, the standard egg price stood at ¥259 per kilogram as of Friday, higher than the previous fiscal year’s high of ¥256.Soaring feed costs amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are also pushing up prices of eggs, which normally see little price fluctuation.

According the ministry, 2.2 million layers culled this season accounted for slightly over 1% of the total of such birds. When asked if this will impact the price of eggs this season, agriculture minister Tetsuro Nomura has said, “There is no major impact.”However, if bird flu infections spread further, it is likely to affect the supply-demand balance of eggs.“There is no choice but to implement thorough hygiene control,” a ministry official said.