About 6,000 chickens found dead on a farm in Yamaguchi Prefecture died of avian influenza, prefectural officials said Jan. 12.

Officials said this is the first case of the disease -- which in rare cases can be deadly to humans -- in Japan since it swept through Hong Kong's poultry farms, killing six people in 1997 and 1998.

There was a case reported in Japan back in the 1920s, one official added.

Bird flu has emerged in other countries recently, including Vietnam and Taiwan.

In South Korea, hundreds of thousands of chickens were culled after an outbreak of the disease and the country's modest poultry exports to Japan, Hong Kong and China have been stopped.

The Japan Times Weekly: Jan. 17, 2004
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