Bird flu hits Israel
2006-03-17 16:51
Special Report
Hong Kong is on bird flu alert again after a wild bird found in a busy shopping area tested positive for the H5 strain of the avian flu virus.
Israel - Israel has confirmed the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain has been found in thousands of poultry, as five people were admitted to hospital on Friday and authorities moved to cull multiple flocks of fowl.
Battling the country's first outbreak of the disease, officials ordered poultry in a quarantined area in the southern Negev desert to be exterminated.
Moshe Haimovitch, director of veterinary services at the agriculture ministry, said the deadly strain of the virus had been found in the kibbutzim of Ein Hashlosha and Holit, not far from the Gaza Strip.
About 11 000 turkeys at the two farms had died, in Israel's first outbreak of bird flu since the virus swept Europe, central Asia and the Middle East.
There were scenes of chaos at Holit, one of the stricken kibbutzim, where turkeys were expiring in their thousands and hundreds of dead fowl dumped outside coops, regardless of the risks of infection to other birds.
Tests carried out on hundreds of 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.
Five people who came into contact with dead poultry in the Negev have been admitted to hospital in the southern desert city of Beersheva.
A Thai migrant worker was showing flu-like symptoms, while four Israelis were being kept under observation, a spokesperson for the Soroka hospital said.
Culling orders now hang over about 300 000 fowl in a 7km 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.
- AFP