Japan suspends British poultry imports over bird flu

TOKYO, Apr 29 (Reuters) Japan has suspended poultry imports from Britain to prevent the spread of bird flu to domestic fowl, Japan's Agriculture Ministry said today.

The announcement came after an outbreak of a less-virulent strain of the bird flu virus, the H7N3, was found at a poultry farm in eastern England.

''In order to do the utmost to prevent the disease from entering our country, the imports of poultry as well as poultry meat...from Britain has been temporarily suspended effective today,'' the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said it had been informed of the outbreak by British authorities and was seeking detailed information.

A farm worker in Norfolk contracted an eye infection caused by the virus, but Britain's Health Protection Agency said H7N3 did not transmit easily from poultry to person or from person to person and the chance of it spreading was low.

The H5N1 strain has killed 113 people in nine countries since 2003.

Scientists fear bird flu could become highly dangerous to humans if the virus mutates into a form easily passed on from one person to another.

In 2004, Japan had four outbreaks of H5N1 in poultry between January and March, including one in Kyoto in western Japan that led to the disposal of about 240,000 chickens and 20 million eggs.

Several outbreaks of the less virulent H5N2 strain occurred in poultry last year on farms near Tokyo.

REUTERS SHB BST1332