Asian Farmers Battle New Bird Flu Outbreak
2021-01-18
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1Chicken farmers in several Asian nations are battling severe bird flu outbreaks.
2The largest number of influenza cases is in Japan and South Korea.
3In those countries, 20 million chickens have been destroyed since November.
4Outbreaks have been reported over a wide area in Japan during the past two months.
5Chiba near Tokyo has reported cases and there are reports of the disease more than 1,000 kilometers away on the island of Kyushu.
6Agriculture ministry officials say fresh cases are still happening.
7"We can't say risk of the further spread of bird flu has diminished as the migration season for wild birds will continue until March, or even April in some cases," an official told Reuters.
8The cases discovered in Japan and South Korea are similar to viruses that spread through Europe in 2019.
9Those viruses developed from widespread infections in 2014, said Filip Claes.
10He is an animal diseases expert with the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
11Bird flu is common in Asia at this time of year because of migratory bird movements.
12Now, new forms of the virus have evolved to become more deadly in wild birds.
13This puts countries on flight pathways at risk, experts say.
14Last week, the H5N8 virus reached India, the world's sixth biggest poultry producer.
15Bird flu has already been reported in 10 Indian states.
16"This is one of the worst outbreaks ever in India," said Mohinder Oberoi, an animal health expert and former advisor to the FAO.
17He added that there is a lot of public fear about disease in crows, which can fly long distances.
18"They know they fly far and think they'll infect their poultry, or even people."
19Chicken prices in India fell by almost a third last week as people became increasingly fearful of the disease and stayed away from the meat.
20Bird flu cannot infect people who eat the meat and the H5N8 virus is not known to have infected humans.
21But people are still fearful, said Uddhav Ahire, chairman of Anand Agro Group, a poultry company based in the western Indian city of Nashik.
22Indonesia is Asia's second largest poultry producer.
23The country is only a temporary transit point for wild birds.
24This has reduced the risk of infections, an official at the country's Agriculture Ministry said.
25However, Indonesia still moved to ban live bird imports from countries with H5N8 cases and set up a surveillance system to look for early signs of the virus.
26With no major bird flight pathways over Southeast Asia, countries like Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have so far not had H5N8 outbreaks.
27Those nations could, however, face risks from the movement of people and goods.
28The Asian outbreak comes as the world faces the COVID-19 pandemic.
29It hurt poultry sales early on. But the pandemic has also driven poultry demand up as more people facing virus restrictions turned to home cooking.
30I'm Bryan Lynn
1Chicken farmers in several Asian nations are battling severe bird flu outbreaks. 2The largest number of influenza cases is in Japan and South Korea. In those countries, 20 million chickens have been destroyed since November. 3Outbreaks have been reported over a wide area in Japan during the past two months. Chiba near Tokyo has reported cases and there are reports of the disease more than 1,000 kilometers away on the island of Kyushu. Agriculture ministry officials say fresh cases are still happening. 4"We can't say risk of the further spread of bird flu has diminished as the migration season for wild birds will continue until March, or even April in some cases," an official told Reuters. 5The cases discovered in Japan and South Korea are similar to viruses that spread through Europe in 2019. Those viruses developed from widespread infections in 2014, said Filip Claes. He is an animal diseases expert with the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). 6Bird flu is common in Asia at this time of year because of migratory bird movements. Now, new forms of the virus have evolved to become more deadly in wild birds. This puts countries on flight pathways at risk, experts say. 7India and Indonesia face risks 8Last week, the H5N8 virus reached India, the world's sixth biggest poultry producer. Bird flu has already been reported in 10 Indian states. 9"This is one of the worst outbreaks ever in India," said Mohinder Oberoi, an animal health expert and former advisor to the FAO. He added that there is a lot of public fear about disease in crows, which can fly long distances. "They know they fly far and think they'll infect their poultry, or even people." 10Chicken prices in India fell by almost a third last week as people became increasingly fearful of the disease and stayed away from the meat. 11Bird flu cannot infect people who eat the meat and the H5N8 virus is not known to have infected humans. But people are still fearful, said Uddhav Ahire, chairman of Anand Agro Group, a poultry company based in the western Indian city of Nashik. 12Indonesia is Asia's second largest poultry producer. The country is only a temporary transit point for wild birds. This has reduced the risk of infections, an official at the country's Agriculture Ministry said. 13However, Indonesia still moved to ban live bird imports from countries with H5N8 cases and set up a surveillance system to look for early signs of the virus. 14With no major bird flight pathways over Southeast Asia, countries like Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have so far not had H5N8 outbreaks. Those nations could, however, face risks from the movement of people and goods. 15The Asian outbreak comes as the world faces the COVID-19 pandemic. It hurt poultry sales early on. But the pandemic has also driven poultry demand up as more people facing virus restrictions turned to home cooking. 16I'm Bryan Lynn 17Reuters reported on this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the report for Learning English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor. 18We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, and visit our Facebook page. 19________________________________________________________________ 20Words in This Story 21outbreak - n. a sudden start or increase in fighting or disease 22influenza - n. a common sickness caused by a virus 23diminish - v. to cause to become smaller or less important 24evolve - v. to change or develop slowly into something that is more complex 25poultry - n. the meat of birds (most often describing chicken) 26transit - n. related to moving people or things from one place to another 27surveillance - n. the act of carefully watching activities of people especially in order to control crime or the spread of disease