Bird flu case reported at poultry farm in eastern Japan

TOKYO, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Ibaraki Prefecture said Thursday that it has confirmed an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza at a poultry farm, marking the tenth such case in the country this season.

The eastern prefecture said that the outbreak in the farm in Shirosato will lead to the culling of about 970,000 egg-laying chickens, the largest such action in the country this season.

The latest outbreak has brought the total number of chickens subject to the culling to about 3.65 million.

Japan's avian influenza season typically runs from autumn until the following spring. The country's first case was confirmed in the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido on Oct. 22.