Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety announced that the processing of applications for the importation of poultry and poultry products from Japan would be suspended with immediate effect on January 15.

"The decision was taken following confirmation of an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5 in a poultry farm in Miyazaki Prefecture of Japan," a spokesman for the Centre said.

"We will seek further information about the case from the Japanese authorities," he said.

Hong Kong imported some 1,800 tons of frozen poultry meat/offal from Japan from January to September last year.

In domestic poultry, infection with avian influenza viruses causes two main forms of disease, distinguished by low and high extremes of virulence. The so-called "low pathogenic" form commonly causes only mild symptoms (ruffled feathers, a drop in egg production) and may easily go undetected. The highly pathogenic form is far more dramatic. It spreads very rapidly through poultry flocks, causes disease affecting multiple internal organs, and has a mortality that can approach 100%, often within 48 hours.

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