Source: Chris Scott, MEATINGPLACE, 11/30/16


Officials in South Korea and Japan have begun culling thousands of birds in the wake of an outbreak of the H5N6 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) as Great Britain watches for a possible HPAI spread from France.

South Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs plans to cull at least 2.78 million birds on top of the 1.68 million already killed less than a month after confirmation of H5N6 among 13 birds. The figure represents about 3.3 percent of the Asian nation’s total poultry population of nearly 85 million, according to a report from Reuters. Ministry officials said testing is continuing on other birds, but the culling and other biosecurity measures are in place as a precaution to prevent additional spread of the virus.

Meanwhile, Japan is culling about 301,000 birds on chicken farms in Niigata prefecture, where about 60 poultry farms operate and 500,000 chickens are raised, according to a report in the Malaysian Digest. An additional 165,000 ducks are being culled in Aomori prefecture after confirmation of an H5N6 outbreak was reported last week, according to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), which is tracking at least two forms of avian influenza across Europe and Asia. It’s Japan’s first bird flu outbreak in nearly two years, OIE noted.

The European outbreak of H5N8 has officials in Great Britain concerned, especially after the confirmation last week of an outbreak in northern France — just 30 miles from Dover, England. Officials at the British Poultry Council announced that much of the focus centers on wild birds potentially bringing the virus across the English Channel as extremely colder weather could spark migrations by wild birds. Biosecurity measures are still being launched in France as officials there continue to try to determine the source of the virus and contain its spread.

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