Bird Flu Confirmed in Swan in Hokkaido Japan
Recombinomics Commentary 23:50
May 1, 2008
A dead swan found in the Notsuke Peninsula in eastern Hokkaido has tested positive for bird flu virus, the Environment Ministry said Thursday.
The swan was found April 24
The ministry plans to collect droppings from 20 to 100 birds at test spots around lakes and rivers for several days to see if they contain avian influenza.
The above comments described another dead swan testing positive for bird flu. Since low path avian influenza rarely kills waterfowl, the bird flu will almost certainly be H5N1. The location of the latest reported positive is almost 300 miles northeast of the confirmed H5N1 infected swans in Akita, indicating the infections are widespread (see satellite map). The outbreaks in South Korea are approximately 500 miles southwest of Akita. Earlier reports indicated additional dead swans in Japan were being tested.
These data support spread of H5N1 by migratory birds over a wide area in Japan and South Korea. The outbreak in South Korea has led to the culling of more than 6 million birds and the closure of wet markets. The detection of bird flu in dead swans at two very distinct locations in Japan suggests that more positive birds will be found if surveillance in enhanced, although testing of 20 – 100 bird droppings is unlikely to produce many positives because the H5N1 is almost certainly clade 2.2, and viral levels in fecal samples is low.
These latest finding in Japan and South Korea, as well as Primorie in southeastern Russia, suggest H5N1 is widespread in these three countries, and will affect additional areas as these migratory birds fly north to multiple locations including areas in North America.
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