reply

Thanks Mariella :)

Israel confirmed the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain had been found in thousands of fowl, as four people were confined to isolation units on Friday and the authorities halted all poultry exports.

Battling the country's first outbreak of bird flu, the authorities ordered poultry in a quarantined area in the southern Negev desert to be exterminated.

Moshe Haimovitch, director of veterinary services at the agriculture ministry, told reporters the deadly strain of the virus had been found in the kibbutzim of Ein Hashlosha and Holit, not far from the Gaza Strip.

Around 11 000 turkeys at the two farms have died in Israel's first outbreak of bird flu since the virus swept Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

There were scenes of chaos at Holit, one of the stricken kibbutzim, where turkeys were expiring in the thousands and hundreds of dead fowl were dumped outside coops, regardless of the risks of infection to other birds.

Adding to fears that the virus had already spread to the heart of Israel, tests were being carried out on hundreds more birds found dead at the kibbutz of Nakhshon, between Jerusalem and the commercial capital Tel Aviv.

Four people who came into contact with dead poultry in the Negev have been confined to isolation units in the southern desert city of Beersheva and the port city of Ashkelon.

"One has a fever, another a cough, and the third is being kept under observation," a spokesperson for the Soroka hospital in Beersheva said. They included a Thai migrant worker as well as two Israelis, the hospital said earlier.

In Ashkelon, a sick-looking farmer was being tended to by medics in protective surgical suits at his bedside, an AFP photographer witnessed.

Medics said it could be 48 hours before tests showed whether the four had contracted bird flu.

The agriculture ministry ordered a halt to all poultry exports in line with international veterinary health agreements, the websites of the Haaretz and Yediot, Aharonot newspapers reported. Officials were not available for confirmation with the onset of the Jewish day of rest at sundown.

Mass culling planned as towns quarantined

The move came shortly after the EU executive announced a ban on all imports of live poultry, poultry meat, eggs and poultry products from Israel.

Culling orders now hang over around 300 000 fowl in a seven-kilometre radius around the affected kibbutzim in the farming belt.

"We are preparing to kill the poultry in the area in the coming few days," Haimovitch said, confirming that Israel had requested four million batches of flu vaccine from the Netherlands to safeguard against the virus spreading.

The authorities have quarantined Ein Hashlosha and Holit, east of Gaza and not far from the border with Egypt, along with two other kibbutzim, one of which also reported dead birds.

The authorities believe the virus was brought in by migratory birds making their spring passage from Africa to Europe, army radio reported. Tens of thousands of storks passed through Israel earlier this week at the start of a season, which will see an estimated half a million wild birds pass.

The Palestinians said there had still been no cases of bird flu in the territories despite a February 17 import ban placed on all meat imports from Gaza following the discovery of the deadly H5N1 strain in neighbouring Egypt.

reply

Hi, thanks, will post this.

Brian