Press Release
March 23, 2007
- Nature & Parks
Announcement of Results of Toxicity Tests on Avian Influenza Subtype H5N1 Virus Detected in a Mountain Hawk Eagle and Conducting of Surveillance of Small Mammals
The Ministry of the Environment (MOE) has recently announced that the Avian Zoonoses Research Center of the Faculty of Agriculture, Tottori University, submitted a report saying that the avian influenza subtype H5N1 Virus isolated from the wild Mountain Hawk Eagle that died from wasting on January 4, 2007 in Kumamoto Prefecture was found to be highly pathogenic.
The MOE has also announced that, in addition to the further genetic analysis of the virus, it will carry out avian influenza virus surveillance of small mammals (weasels, mice) eaten by Mountain Hawk Eagles within a radius of 5 kilometers from the spot where the dead wild Mountain Hawk Eagle was found.