H5N1 in Japanese Outbreak "Highly Virulent"

Is it the Fujian-type? Hahaha, of course not! That sub-strain doesn't officially exist in the eyes of the Chinese government, it couldn't possibly be that! Anyway, here's the report from the Japanese Times:

"The avian influenza that broke out last week at a poultry farm in Miyazaki Prefecture involved a highly virulent virus, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said Thursday.

A health official collects a blood sample Wednesday from a chicken at a farm in Miyazaki Prefecture to check for avian flu.

The ministry determined the degree of virulence through a laboratory examination of virus samples taken from chickens that died of bird flu on the Miyazaki farm.

The National Institute of Animal Health, which identified the virus as the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain on Tuesday, drew the conclusion after eight chickens inoculated with the sampled virus were dead by Thursday, the ministry said.

Based in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, the institute will continue genetic analysis for the consideration of the ministry's panel of experts.

The H5N1 strain, a subtype of the influenza A virus circulating basically in birds, has spread mainly in Asia and has killed more than 160 people in 10 countries since 2003, according to the World Health Organization.

Its latest outbreak in poultry in Japan -- the fifth bird-flu case here since 2004 -- occurred at Taniguchi Furanjo Kurosaka Farm in Kiyotake, Miyazaki Prefecture, causing the death of 3,500 birds in one of the farm's three poultry houses, mostly last week."

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I'm interested in what the full genetic analysis says about this recent outbreak. It was really quick and nasty, but the Japanese seem to have stopped it before it spread further.