일본의 시마네현(Shimane)에서 11월 27일(토) 고병원성 조류독감이 발생했고, 홍콩에서11월 17일에 2003년 이후 처음으로 인간 조류독감 H5N1 감염 사례가 보고되었다는 [월스트리트저널(WSJ)]의 뉴스입니다.
Bird Flu Found in Japan
출처 : WSJ DECEMBER 3, 2010, 3:57 P.M. ET
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703989004575652203028617716.html?mod=WSJASIA_newsreel_world
The Japanese government Friday confirmed the country’s first outbreak of a high-risk bird flu in three years, though it stressed that there was no evidence the disease had spread beyond chickens. The report came two weeks after Hong Kong reported the first human case there since 2003.
The announcement from Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries came after a farm in rural western Shimane prefecture found five chickens dead in one place in its poultry house last Saturday, and a few more in the same spot on Monday morning. After a quick test turned up positive for the industry-threatening bird flu, 21,500 chickens on the farm were slaughtered and four farms nearby—within a 10-kilometer radius of the infected farm—were ordered not to ship eggs and poultry as a precaution.
While the bird-flu scare has receded, the strain has never fully disappeared since the big outbreak seven years ago. Globally, some 40 human cases, including 20 deaths, have been confirmed this year by the WHO. In 2009, there were 73 confirmed cases and 32 deaths.
Friday’s test in Japan identified the virus taken from the dead chickens as the H5N1 strain of avian influenza. Multiple strains can be transmitted to humans, but the H5N1 strain has caused the greatest number of human cases resulting in severe disease and death.
Outbreaks of H5N1 infection in birds have been rare. Those that began in Southeast Asia in 2003 were the most widespread and severe, according to the World Health Organization, which monitors cases of avian flu.
Nine Asian countries, including Japan, have reported previous H5N1 outbreaks. In Japan, the outbreaks were controlled and the country was considered free of disease, according to the global health body.
On Nov. 17, a case of H5N1 human infection was confirmed in Hong Kong, its first in seven years. In October, two human cases were reported in Indonesia.
It is “not unusual to see sporadic human cases” in regions where there are occasional outbreaks in poultry, said Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, a WHO spokeswoman, about the recent cases. Outbreaks can occur any time of the year, she said.
Japan was hit with the H5N1 strain of avian flu in 2004 for the first time in 79 years, and then again in 2007. Officials slaughtered 410,000 chickens and 170,000 chickens after each incident in western Japan. (Less-virulent avian flu variations were detected in Japan in 2005 and 2009.)
In a sign officials think they have contained the spread this time, this week’s ban on egg shipments was lifted Friday as the flu tests on the birds in the nearby farms were negative. Restrictions on transporting poultry will remain until the safety of the area is confirmed by further testing on all the birds in the nearby farms for three weeks after a disinfection process is complete.
The agriculture ministry said in a statement that even if humans consume infected meat and eggs, they wouldn’t be affected.
How the Shimane birds were infected is under investigation, but it’s possible an infected wild bird entered the poultry house through some enlarged holes in the bird prevention net, said Ryuji Kawakami, a Shimane prefecture official.
“It’s really regrettable that this happens here, given that we make a routine check up on the sanitation of chicken houses diligently every month. This is one of the diseases that chicken farmers are most afraid of,” Mr. Kawakami said.
Write to Miho Inada at miho.inada@wsj.com and Shirley S. Wang at shirley.wang@wsj.com
