Bird Flu again, around 40,000 chickens killed in Japan

About 40,000 chickens were killed Monday at a poultry farm in southern Japan after dead chickens found there were confirmed as infected with the bird-flu virus, news reports said.

At the farm in Miyazaki prefecture on the island of Kyushu, 90 chickens were found dead Sunday in the winter's sixth outbreak of bird flu in the prefecture and the ninth in the country.

In November, avian flu was found in the western prefecture of Shimane and also has been confirmed in wild birds across the country.

In Miyazaki, more than 500,000 chickens had been culled over 10 days as authorities attempt to control the disease.

Miyazaki had been already devastated by last year's foot-and-mouth epidemic, which led to the slaughter of about 290,000 cows and pigs.