Japan: H5N1 avian influenza strain detected in Tottori swan

20 December 2010

The HPAI H5N1 strain has been detected in a swan that died earlier this month in Yonago, Tottori Prefecture, local officials said Saturday.

The Tottori Prefectural Government revealed the results of a test on the young wild tundra swan, which was found reeling on the balcony of a residential house in Yonago on Dec. 4 and died the following day.

The location is within 10 km of a poultry farm in neighboring Yasugi, Shimane Prefecture, where over 20,000 chickens were culled by early this month after city officials confirmed an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza.