Tokyo, Oct 23 : Authorities in the Japanese northern prefecture of Hokkaido have confirmed the first outbreak of avian influenza in the country this season, local media reported.

At a poultry farm in the town of Shiraoi, where the case was found, local authorities on Wednesday started to kill and dispose of some 459,000 chickens and placed a ban on the transportation of 620,000 hens at four other farms inside a ten-kilometre radius, reports Xinhua, quoting public broadcaster NHK.

Workers at the farm in question found several dead chickens on Tuesday, with preliminary testing detecting the bird flu virus, the report said.

The prefectural government convened an emergency meeting on Wednesday morning. It was reported that genetic tests revealed the birds were infected with the highly pathogenic H5 strain of the bird flu virus.

Hokkaido officials plan to complete the cull by October 30 and the disinfection of the henhouses by November 2, the report said.

A bird flu expert said an outbreak can happen anywhere, as migratory birds possibly carrying the virus use various routes to reach Japan, noting that people around the nation should be on alert.

Avian influenza, also known as bird flu, is a type of zoonotic (or animal) influenza that affects wild birds and poultry and is caused by virus sub-types A(H5N1), A(H9N2). Avian influenza has occasionally infected humans; however, it does not easily transmit between humans. The majority of human cases of avian influenza have been associated with direct or indirect contact with infected live or dead poultry.

Since it was first reported in Hong Kong in 1997, the disease has been responsible for human outbreaks and deaths in 16 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. In 2006, avian influenza caused by the highly pathogenic A(H5N1) influenza virus spread rapidly through the Eastern Mediterranean Region with large non-human outbreaks reported in Afghanistan, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Pakistan and Sudan.

Transmission of the A(H5N1) influenza virus from infected birds to humans was confirmed in Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq and Pakistan. Since then, avian influenza has become endemic among poultry in Egypt.

/IANS