Federal officials in Japan have announced an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, presumed to be H5N8, near Munakuta City in the Fukuoka Prefecture located on the Island of Kyushu, the southernmost in the Japan Archipelago.  The outbreak involved a farm with 94,000 layers all of which have been depopulated.

News reports indicated a "spread" of HPAI from the previous outbreak in Kagawa Prefecture.  This is probably an incorrect assertion. The Fukuoka outbreak is in all probability independent and resulted from direct or indirect contact with migratory waterfowl that are moving in a northeast direction.  Fukuoka and Kagawa Prefectures are separated by about two hundred miles.