Tokyo (ANTARA News/AFP) - Japanese health authorities on Thursday said a fifth outbreak of bird flu since November had hit a poultry farm in the central region of Aichi, as local officials began a cull of 150,000 chickens there.

Since November Japan has confirmed five cases of bird flu at farms in four of the country`s 47 prefectures. Some 600,000 chickens have been culled.

The flu has also hit Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures on southwestern Kyushu island, which are major poultry farming areas.

In Miyazaki, a foot-and-mouth outbreak last year forced the slaughter of almost 300,000 farm animals.
(Uu.H-AK/P003)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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