A bird flu case at a poultry farm in southwestern Japan was confirmed Saturday, which caused the death of some 2,400 chickens, Kyodo News reported.

The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry has confirmed the cause of the chicken death as avian influenza in the chicken farm in Miyazaki prefecture, which feeds around 12,000 chickens. Over 700 chickens in the farm died on Wednesday and Thursday and other 1,600 chickens were found dead earlier on Saturday.

Local authorities will cull the rest chickens in the farm on Sunday and take other measures to avoid the spread of the disease, the report said.

Bird flu infections have been found at dozens of farms in Ibaraki prefecture in 2005 and 2006, for which at least 5.8 million poultry were killed.

It is feared that the bird-to-bird disease of avian flu currently spread around the globe could mutate into a virus transmissible between humans and led to a pandemic.

(Xinhua News Agency January 13, 2007)