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This from the Asahi Shimbun News Agency.
Avian flu in Miyazaki Prefecture almost identical to one in China
01/23/2007
The Asahi Shimbun
The avian flu that killed thousands of chickens in Miyazaki Prefecture is almost identical to the one that sparked an epidemic in China that has been spreading since 2005, experts said.
The experts, citing test results of DNA samples, said the highly virulent strain of the virus might have been carried by migratory birds from China to Japan.
The National Institute of Animal Health in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, has been analyzing the virus after obtaining samples from dead chickens at a poultry farm in Kiyotake, Miyazaki Prefecture, in mid-January.
The test results showed that the strain found on the Kiyotake farm was at least a 99-percent match in terms of DNA sequencing with the H5N1 strain confirmed in China in May 2005, the experts said.
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