Japan Declared Free from H5N8 Bird Flu
JAPAN - Japan has declared freedom from H5N8 highly pathogenic avian influenza with effect from 17 July 2014, according to the Article 10.4.3. of the OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code.
18 July 2014
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According to follow-up report no. 5 sent to the World Organisation for Animal Health on 17 July, as specified in the Article 10.4.3., a stamping-out policy, including the destruction of all susceptible animals and the disinfection of the affected farm and the related farm, was applied and all the control measures were completed on 16 April 2014.
Active surveillance with the confirmation tests to prove freedom from avian influenza were conducted by clinical inspection, serum antibody test and virus isolation, and the three-month period has passed since the application of a stamping-out policy, without any new outbreaks.
The Japanese veterinary authorities, however, have not yet been able to determine the cause of the single outbreak of the disease in April 2014 in Kumamoto prefecture on the island of Kyushu.
