Announcement

DB · March 16, 2006, 09:18 AM

Re: Man working with chickens who became ill hospitalized in isolation

"Health Ministry officials are currently debating whether to run tests for the man to determine whether or not he has bird flu."

For the love of god, why do they have to debate this.

Just test him.

But maybe that would just make too much sense.

**ukcz** · March 16, 2006, 09:20 AM

Re: Man working with chickens who became ill hospitalized in isolation

I thought you'd like that line. ;-)

**Snowy Owl** · March 17, 2006, 05:05 AM

Israel: (now) 4 people hospitalized for possible avian flu

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="t18B" valign="top">Three people hospitalized for possible avian flu</td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2" valign="top"></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2" class="t11B" valign="top">By Assaf Uni, Ran Reznick and Amiram Cohen, Haaretz Correspondents, Agencies and Haaretz Staff</td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2" valign="top"></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="3">Three people were taken to the hospital for treatment of possible bird flu Friday. All three are apparently residents of Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, one of the Negev kibbutzim where turkeys were found dead Thursday, or people who work there.

Israel on Friday ordered the slaughter of tens of thousands of birds suspected of being infected by the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu. The Health Ministry confirmed suspicions that the virus has reached Israel, after more than 1,000 birds died this week, Israel Radio reported.

A day after initial lab tests appear to have confirmed the existence of bird flu in the south of Israel, veterinarians told Haaretz that the deadly viral strain is suspected of having spread to turkey coops in Kibbutz Nachshon, 25 kilometers away from Jerusalem.

</td></tr></tbody> </table>
The sources said Friday they had noted suspicious deaths among kibbutz turkeys over the last two days, and that initial lab tests showed that the turkeys were infected by bird flu. However, it was not clear whether the turkeys were infected by the H5N1 strain of the virus.

A spokeswoman for the Agriculture Ministry said Friday morning she was unaware of official lab test results performed on the Kibbutz Nachshon turkeys.

Health Ministry sources said that the initial lab tests carried out on some of the more than 1,000 turkeys that died Thursday in two communities in the south of the country show that the deadly strain of avian flu has reached Israel, but there has been no official confirmation that the virus has indeed arrived.

If the results are confirmed, it would be the first time that the deadly virus - which has killed at least 97 people worldwide and led to the slaughter of tens of millions of birds - will have been detected in Israeli birds.

After the deaths were reported, the veterinary authorities imposed a quarantine on the two Negev kibbutzim where the birds were found dead - Ein Hashlosha and Holit - and two neighboring kibbutzim, Nirim and Kissufim.

"We have imposed a quarantine with a radius of seven kilometers around the area, and in case our suspicions are confirmed, we are prepared for a wide-scale destruction of the flocks in a radius of three kilometers," Boim said.

The quarantine means that no birds can enter or leave the kibbutzim, and no people will be allowed into the coops except those who must care for the birds that are still alive.

These essential personnel are required to don suitable protective gear - masks, goggles and protective clothing - before entering.

If the dead birds are found to have H5N1, tens of thousands of birds will be slaughtered, in both the affected farms and those within a three-kilometer radius. In addition, a quarantine will be imposed with a radius of 10 kilometers around the kibbutzim. The government will consider vaccinating all birds in Israel in an attempt to prevent the virus from spreading.

Health and agriculture officials were to decide Friday whether to begin culling the birds immediately or to wait for a final confirmation that the fowl died of the deadly virus strain.

The H5N1 virus was detected in neighboring Egypt last month, and Boim said that the death of the birds in southern Israel might indicate that the disease entered the country from Egypt.

Another possibility is that the disease entered from Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces therefore asked the Palestinian Authority to deliver blood samples of poultry from Gaza Strip henhouses, in order to determine whether they were the source of the virus.

The suspicion that the virus had reached Israel first emerged Thursday morning, when veterinarians at Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha discovered 400 dead birds in one of the coops. At about the same time, nearby Kibbutz Holit reported suspicious deaths among its turkeys. Initial laboratory tests determined that at least one of the birds had died of avian flu, but further testing is needed to determine whether it was the deadly H5N1 strain.

Further deaths were reported at both coops later in the day, and the death toll eventually climbed to more than 1,000.

"They're dropping like flies. I've never seen anything like it," said Dr. Yariv Agur, an expert on avian diseases who visited the Holit coops on Thursday.

Agur said that anyone who was in contact with the affected birds ought to be given immediate preventive treatment. At Ein Hashlosha, he added, that could include more than just farmers and veterinarians, since there, "the coops are inside the kibbutz, so the virus surely exists in every nook and cranny."

However, the virus can only be caught via close contact with infected birds. As a result, though the Health Ministry also advised anyone who has been in contact with the birds on either kibbutz to contact the local health authority, it does not plan to issue any advisories to the general public or take any special steps that would affect the general public.

Ministry officials also stressed that there is no reason for people to stop eating poultry, since the virus cannot be transmitted via cooked food. However, poultry farmers said that their main fear is that the public will ignore this reassurance. A panic-driven consumer boycott of poultry, they noted gloomily, could do their businesses even more harm than the destruction of their flocks, should the presence of the virus be confirmed.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/695120.html

**Snowy Owl** · March 17, 2006, 05:57 AM

Israeli officials order tens of thousands of turkeys destroyed

Israeli officials order tens of thousands of turkeys destroyed

AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer
March 17, 2006 2:47 AM

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli officials on Friday ordered tens of thousands of turkeys destroyed as they awaited final word on whether the country has experienced its first outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.About 11,000 turkeys have died in recent days, and after preliminary tests, Health Minister Yaakov Edri said there was a ''very high chance that this is avian flu.''''We are already pretty sure it is avian flu, but of course, there are more tests to be done,'' Edri told Army Radio.

An Agriculture Ministry spokeswoman, Dafna Yarisca, told The Associated Press it could take anywhere from hours to days until final results were in.No cases of human illness have been reported, Edri said. If deadly avian flu is confirmed, and in the unlikely event it spreads to humans, Israel has vaccinations for half a million of its 7 million people, he said.Five people admitted to a southern Israeli hospital were being observed for signs of bird flu, Israeli media reported, but Israeli government veterinary officials said they did not think they had contracted the disease.Health officials fear H5N1 could evolve into a virus that can be transmitted easily between people and become a global pandemic, but there has been no confirmation of this happening yet. At least 97 people have died from the disease worldwide, with most victims infected directly by sick birds.The suspected outbreak originally was centered on the Negev Desert farming communities of Ein Hashlosha and Holit, but later spread to Nachson, a farming community near Jerusalem.

Officials imposed quarantines in all three areas, and on Friday, ordered turkey flocks in all three communities destroyed, the Agriculture Ministry said. It did not release an exact number of birds to be killed.Four million units of flu vaccine for birds were ordered from Holland, Agriculture Minister Zeev Boim told Israel Radio.Yarisca said Israel, in cooperation with the Palestinian Authority, regularly tests chickens from Gaza for avian flu, and so far, the flocks there have aroused no cause for concern.

The H5N1 virus was detected in neighboring Egypt last month, and Boim said Thursday that the death of the birds in southern Israel might indicate the disease entered Israel from Egypt.The H5N1 strain has killed or forced the slaughter of tens of millions of chickens and ducks across Asia since 2003, and recently spread to Europe, Africa and the Middle East.Officials said there was no danger of infection from eating cooked chicken, turkey or eggs.AP-WS-03-17-06 0546EST

429 Too Many Requests

http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=564701102051034178

DB · March 17, 2006, 10:29 AM

Re: Three people hospitalized for possible avian flu

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/news...UK-BIRDFLU.xml

By Yehuda Peretz
BEERSHEBA, Israel (Reuters) - Israel detected its first cases of H5N1 bird flu on Friday, saying the virus had killed thousands of turkeys and chicken on two farms, and hospitalised three people suspected of being infected.
Bird flu has spread with alarming speed in recent weeks across Europe, Africa and parts of Asia, stoking fears the virus could mutate into a form that could easily pass from one person to another, triggering a pandemic in which millions could die.
Three people who worked in poultry coops at the farms where the virus was discovered were admitted to isolation units at Soroka Medical Centre in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
"All those who were in contact with fowl and have some sort of illness ... will be put in quarantine. Until proved otherwise ... they have bird flu," said hospital director Eitan Hayam. He said there was only a slim chance they had contracted the virus.
Two farms were confirmed to have infected poultry. Tests were being carried out another two farms where H5N1 is suspected.
Police put up roadblocks around the farms to prevent movement of people and fowl, and agriculture officials said hundreds of thousands of birds might need to be destroyed to contain the outbreak.
Although it is hard to catch, people can contract bird flu after coming into contact with infected birds. The World Health Organisation says 98 people have died from H5N1 so far.
Tests were also being carried out on a Serbian boy from a village near the border with Bosnia where bird flu had been identified in birds.
The risk of human infection means people must wear protective clothing when culling birds in areas where H5N1 has broken out. In Afghanistan, where bird flu was confirmed on Thursday, a lack of protective suits is delaying efforts to stop its spread.
"We plan to start the culling. We're waiting only for protective clothing," said Azizullah Osmani, an agriculture ministry official, who added he hoped U.S. forces could supply some suits.
New cases of bird flu are discovered on a near daily basis. Sweden's National Veterinary Institute said on Friday it had found a case of aggressive bird flu in the south east of the country, while Switzerland found two cases of H5 bird flu.
LOSS OF APPETITE
The spread of bird flu has shaken poultry markets around the world as consumers have lost their appetites for chicken, with some countries reporting a drop in sales of up to 70 percent.
The European Union banned poultry imports from Israel after the discovery of H5N1 there, the EU's executive Commission said.
The French poultry industry, which has been hit by a series of bans on its products after the discovery of an H5N1 outbreak on a turkey farm, received a little comfort on Friday with news that fewer birds than expected may be culled in the area of eastern France where the virus was detected.
Local authorities were preparing to ease rules that would mean farmers could resume selling birds that would otherwise have been culled. Under European law, if no new cases of the disease have been identified within a 21-day period after the initial discovery, marketing rules can be relaxed.
The 21 days expire on March 18.
"The relaxation of the rules provides us with some hope," said Daniel Martin, head of the local branch of France's largest farm union.
But in Greece, the mood was less positive.
"Give it another two or three months and we can then talk about a complete disaster, the end of our sector," poultry business federation chief Spyros Nonikas told Reuters.
"We are on the brink of collapse and no half measure is going to save us now."
(For more stories, pictures and video on bird flu see http://today.reuters.com/News/Global...ype=globalNews)
(Additional reporting by Asian and European bureaux)

**GaudiaRay** · March 17, 2006, 12:57 PM

Bird Flu Hits Israel, Three People Maybe Infected

Bird Flu Hits Israel, Three People Maybe Infected
[sorry no attribution...lost the link.]

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

Tel Aviv----March 17......Until today, Israel had thought that it's deadliest threat came from Iran, Syria, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah, Hizbollah and bin-Laden. But now some innocent birds without suicide belts may have changed that equation.

The Israel Agriculture Ministry today confirmed the first bird flu outbreak in the country, Israel Radio reported. Citing an official source, Israel radio said that the Agriculture Ministry had confirmed that the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu led to the deaths of over 11,000 turkeys on two farms in southern Israel, the first such case in the country. In addition, local newspaper Ha'aretz reported that three people, either living or working on one of the two farms located in the southern area of Negev, had been rushed to hospital for treatment of suspected symptoms of bird flu infection.

Following preliminary tests after discovering the dead turkeys Israel Health Minister Yaakov Edri said "a very high chance that this is avian flu." "Last night we informed the World Health Organisation that the H5N1 virus has spread to Israel," Dr Moshe Haimovitch, a senior agriculture ministry official, said in Tel Aviv.

The Israel Agriculture Ministry has ordered the slaughter of thousands of birds on the two farms and a third one near Jerusalem where bird flu was suspected, the report added. Israel has geared up for bird flu outbreaks, ordering that all the birds in the affected farms and nearby farms be destroyed and that a quarantine be imposed with a radius of 10 kilometers around the farms if the deadly virus is detected. Last month, Israel's neighboring country Egypt detected its first case of H5N1 in chickens.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu, which re-emerged in east Asia in December 2003, has killed over 90 people worldwide in the last few years and is spreading rapidly across the world. Experts fear that the disease, currently jumping from birds to humans through close contact, might mutate into a form that can easily pass among humans, leading to a global pandemic.

The Israel Health Ministry confirmed that Bird Flu was responsible for the recent deaths of approximately 11,000 turkeys at the southern kibbutzim of Holit and Ein Hashlosha. The same strain was identified at Kibbutz Nachshon near Beit Shemesh, following an unusual amount of poultry deaths. Two people from Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, who worked at the chicken coops, were sent to Soroka Hospital under suspicion that they contracted the deadly bird flu strain. One of them, a Thai worker was held in isolation.

The Israel Health Ministry ordered that the carcasses be buried underground. The poultry were to be killed by consumption of poisoned water.

After its meeting to discuss the response to a bird flu outbreak, the Agriculture Ministry announced on Friday that they would continue the veterinary quarantine over the southern kibbutzim of Holit and Ein Hashlosha.

Chief Israel veterinarian of the Agriculture Ministry Dr. Shimon Pokamunski told Israel Radio that it had not yet been decided to launch a massive vaccination campaign, but should that decision be made, the Health Ministry would be ready to proceed within three days.

Health officials repeatedly reminded the public that the avian flu primarily affects birds. It was very rare for the virus to make the transition into a human host. Even in cases where humans do contract the disease, it is generally limited to people who come in direct contact with fowl, usually bird handlers in chicken coops. Unfortunately, mortality tends to be high in cases when it is contracted.

The Israel Health Ministry voiced caution and urged the public not to panic after the Agriculture Ministry announced on Thursday night that turkeys on two Negev farms were "suspected" of having died from the H5N1 strain of avian flu. Health Minister Ya'akov Edri called an emergency meeting last night to discuss the case. Agriculture Minister Ze'ev Boim said the ministry was still testing the birds to determine whether they had the feared flu strain. Boim stressed that Israelis should remain calm until the tests have been completed. The suspected outbreak was centered on the Negev desert farming community of Ein Hashlosha and the nearby community of Holit, where a large number of turkeys were found dead, Boim said.

"We have imposed a quarantine in a radius of seven kilometers around the area, and we are prepared, in case our suspicions are confirmed, to prepare for a wide-scale destruction of the flocks in a radius of three kilometers," he said. Health Ministry associate director-general Dr. Boaz Lev said that there was no danger to the general public, as avian flu spreads directly among poultry and wild birds and can spread only to people in direct contact with live birds whose droppings contain the virus. There is no danger eating poultry, even if the food supply is affected by the virus, as it is destroyed by the heat of cooking and does not pass to humans who touch raw processed poultry.

The H5N1 virus was detected in neighboring Egypt last month, and Boim said the death of the birds in southern Israel might indicate that the disease had entered the country from Egypt.

Bird flu expert Robert Webster told ABC News this week that there were ''about even odds at this time for the virus to learn how to transmit human to human," and ''society just can't accept the idea that 50 percent of the population could die. . . . I'm sorry if I'm making people a little frightened, but I feel it's my role."

Webster was criticized for his statement by the Boston Globe which stated: "As one of the top flu experts in the world, Webster's role is to track influenza in the test tube, not to make sweeping speculations that are not based on science and do far more harm than good. By his estimate, we should be destroying every bird in the world right now before we all perish in a pool of pathogens." The Globe continued: "Webster's statement is the latest Hitch****ian pronouncement about H5N1 bird flu, a virus that is deadly in birds. But humans are different. We are protected by a species barrier, and serological surveys conducted in 1997 in Hong Kong and since have detected antibodies in thousands of humans who never got sick, showing that bird flu isn't as deadly to the few who come in contact with it as has been reported. Imagine what would happen if a bird in the United States gets H5N1 bird flu. At the rate we are going, the fear of birds will be so great that our own poultry industry, number one in the world, is likely to be in shambles. We already have this problem with mad cow disease, where a single sick cow that is not even in the food chain makes people very nervous, despite the fact that it is almost impossible to get mad cow disease from eating beef."

Most scientists won't say it that directly but most acknowledge that Webster could be right, even though they believe the 50% figure could be too high. No one knows how long or how many mutations changes it would take for bird flu to become a direct threat to humans. But that hasn't stopped Dr. Anne Moscona from desperately searching for new types of anti-virals that both prevent and slow the spread of bird flu. She says, "I don't think that once we human-to-human transmission, it's going to be possible to contain it." This is why nearly every viral scientist in America, perhaps the world, is waiting, watching the avian flu virus to see if it remains a terrible threat to birds, or changes its DNA and becomes just as deadly to humans.

Blaming the media for blowing out of proportion a localised event, India Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said today the bird flu situation is under control and there is nothing to panic about on a nationwide scale. "The media has blown a localised event out of proportion without realising that such exaggeration of facts would impact the rural economy," Pawar told reporters at the sidelines of the World Consumer Rights Day celebration here. There is nothing to worry, he said, adding "the situation is completely under control".

The US Center for Disease Control states: "Although avian influenza A viruses usually do not infect humans, more than 100 confirmed cases of human infection with avian influenza viruses have been reported since 1997. For example, the World Health Organization (WHO) maintains situation updates and cumulative reports of human cases of avian influenza A (H5N1). Most cases of avian influenza infection in humans are thought to have resulted from direct contact with infected poultry or contaminated surfaces. However, there is still a lot to learn about how different subtypes and strains of avian influenza virus might affect humans. For example, it is not known how the distinction between low pathogenic and highly pathogenic strains might impact the health risk to humans. (For more information, see ?Low Pathogenic versus Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Viruses? on the CDC Influenza Viruses Web page. Because of concerns about the potential for more widespread infection in the human population, public health authorities closely monitor outbreaks of human illness associated with avian influenza. To date, human infections with avian influenza A viruses detected since 1997 have not resulted in sustained human-to-human transmission. However, because influenza A viruses have the potential to change and gain the ability to spread easily between people, monitoring for human infection and person-to-person transmission is important."

The CDC continued: "The avian influenza A (H5N1) epizootic (animal outbreak) in Asia and parts of Europe is not expected to diminish significantly in the short term. It is likely that H5N1 infection among birds has become endemic in certain areas and that human infections resulting from direct contact with infected poultry will continue to occur. So far, the spread of H5N1 virus from person-to-person has been rare and has not continued beyond one person. No evidence for genetic reassortment between human and avian influenza A virus genes has been found; however, the epizootic in Asia continues to pose an important public health threat."

The results from the tests of people in Israel admitted into hospital with bird flu symptoms will be ready in two days, Haaretz informs. The information about how many people have been admitted into Soroka hospital with bird flu symptoms is controversial. Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reports about five Israel citizens from Ein Hashlosha. At the same time Haaretz informs of four workers, including a Thai citizen.

For now it appears that Bird Flu may be a blessing in disguise as the terror group Hamas led Palestinian Authority will have to work closely with Israel authorities in combating a common enemy.
A sick dove of peace may actually contribute to peace, cooperation and stability in the Middle-East, if the birds don't get to us first.

DB · March 17, 2006, 03:10 PM

Four Israelis Hospitalized With 'Bird Flu'

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>http://www.postchronicle.com/news/br...21210851.shtml
Four Israelis Hospitalized With 'Bird Flu'
by UPI Wire
Mar 17, 2006

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>BEER SHEVA, Israel - March 17, 2006 (UPI) -- Four people have been hospitalized in Israel with possible cases of bird flu and officials began preparations Friday for the culling of thousands of birds.
People at three southern farms and a man from Kiryat Gat were being tested after become ill in a region where bird flu is in the death of hundreds of chickens. A chicken farm owner told Ynetnews.com the outbreak began Tuesday and since then hundreds of fowl have died.
Israeli officials halted poultry product exports and planned to kill thousands of birds by poisoning water within a 2-mile area of the affected farms. That operation will begin Sunday.
Agriculture Ministry officials Friday reported the virus has yet to be positively identified. Shimon Pokemonski, chief veterinarian for poultry diseases at the veterinary services, said that while the virus has not been isolated so far, tests indicate it is highly likely it is of the H5N1 type.
Hospital personnel said tests on the people afflicted should be completed by Sunday to confirm if they have bird flu.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

DB · March 17, 2006, 03:19 PM

Re: Four Israelis Hospitalized With 'Bird Flu'

Now it is 3-5 people.

Looks like it is getting bad in Israel now.

**Sally Furniss** · March 17, 2006, 03:51 PM

Re: Israel: (now) 4 people hospitalized for possible avian flu

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="t18B" valign="top">Four people hospitalized for possible avian flu</td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2" valign="top"></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2" class="t11B" valign="top">By Assaf Uni, Ran Reznick and Amiram Cohen, Haaretz Correspondents, Agencies and Haaretz Staff</td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2" valign="top"></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="3">Four people were taken to hospital Friday for treatment of possible bird flu. Three workers at two Negev kibbutzim where more than 1,000 turkeys were found dead Thursday were taken to Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva for treatment. An individual who works at Moshav Sde Moshe, near the southern town of Kiryat, was taken to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon on Friday after feeling ill.

The bird flu was suspected of spreading to both Moshav Sde Moshe and Kibbutz Nachshon, 25 kilometers from Jerusalem.

One of the patients, a Thai laborer who works at Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, is being held in isolation. The other two, Bedouin from the Tel Arad region who work at Kibbutz Holit, said they had been feeling sick for the past few days but could not get off work. Hospital administrators said test results for the three kibbutz workers would be ready by Sunday.

</td></tr></tbody></table>
The possible human infections came as lab tests appeared to confirm suspicions that more than 1,000 turkeys in Ein Hashlosha, Holit and Nachshon were infected by the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus.

However, the World Health Organization does not view the test conducted on the turkeys, called PCR, as a definitive confirmation of the existence of the viral strain. Israel is in the process of conducting a second, stricter test, whose results are expected by Sunday.

Meanwhile, Israel on Friday halted all exports of unprocessed chicken and turkey meat to overseas destinations. The European Commission on Friday banned imports of live poultry, poultry meat, eggs and poultry products from Israel.

Israel decided not to wait for the results of the stricter test, however, and authorities began preparations Friday to kill tens of thousands of birds suspected of being infected by bird flu. The culling, which will be carried out by poisoning the drinking water of birds within a three-kilometer radius of the kibbutzim thought to be affected by the virus, will begin Sunday in all three kibbutzim.

In addition, health authorities decided to fly four million doses of bird flu vaccines into Israel from Holland. The government will consider vaccinating all birds in Israel in an attempt to prevent the virus from spreading.

The initial confirmation marks the first time that the deadly virus - which has killed at least 97 people worldwide and led to the slaughter of tens of millions of birds - has been detected in Israeli birds.

Government officials attempted to calm the public, saying that the chance of human infection was low and that cooked poultry does not transmit the virus.

"The risk that people will contract [the virus] is very very low," Health Ministry Director General Prof. Avi Yisraeli said Friday.

Ministry officials stressed that there is no reason for people to stop eating poultry, since the virus cannot be transmitted via cooked food. However, poultry farmers said that their main fear is that the public will ignore this reassurance. Indeed, merchants said demand for poultry products, especially turkey, was low Friday. Poultry farmers said a panic-driven consumer boycott of poultry could do their businesses even more harm than the destruction of their flocks.

After the turkey deaths were reported in the south Thursday, the veterinary authorities imposed a quarantine on Ein Hashlosha and Holit as well as two neighboring kibbutzim, Nirim and Kissufim. The quarantine was extended to 10 kilometers Friday.

The quarantine means that no birds can enter or leave the kibbutzim, and
no people will be allowed into the coops except those who must care for the birds that are still alive.

These essential personnel are required to don suitable protective gear - masks, goggles and protective clothing - before entering.

Virus could have come from Egypt or Gaza
The H5N1 virus was detected in neighboring Egypt last month, and Agriculture Minister Ze'ev Boim said that the death of the birds in southern Israel might indicate that the disease entered the country from Egypt.

Another possibility is that the disease entered from Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces therefore asked the Palestinian Authority to deliver blood samples of poultry from Gaza Strip henhouses, in order to determine whether they were the source of the virus.

The suspicion that the virus had reached Israel first emerged Thursday morning, when veterinarians at Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha discovered 400 dead birds in one of the coops. At about the same time, nearby Kibbutz Holit reported suspicious deaths among its turkeys. Initial laboratory tests determined that at least one of the birds had died of avian flu, but further testing is needed to determine whether it was the deadly H5N1 strain.

Further deaths were reported at both coops later in the day, and the death toll eventually climbed to more than 1,000.

"They're dropping like flies. I've never seen anything like it," said Dr. Yariv Agur, an expert on avian diseases who visited the Holit coops on Thursday.

Veterinary authorities said Friday that the virus was suspected of having spread to Kibbutz Nachshon as well.

Agur said that anyone who was in contact with the affected birds ought to be given immediate preventive treatment. At Ein Hashlosha, he added, that could include more than just farmers and veterinarians, since there, "the coops are inside the kibbutz, so the virus surely exists in every nook and cranny."

However, the virus can only be caught via close contact with infected birds. As a result, though the Health Ministry also advised anyone who has been in contact with the birds on either kibbutz to contact the local health authority, it does not plan to issue any advisories to the general public or take any special steps that would affect the general public.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/695120.html

**Snowy Owl** · March 18, 2006, 08:32 AM

Israel confirms bird flu outbreak
Dead bird at Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha

Israel confirms bird flu outbreak

<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="203"> <tbody><tr><td> Around 11,000 birds have died in Israel's first outbreak of the virus

</td></tr> </tbody></table>  
Israeli officials have confirmed that thousands of turkeys and chickens found dead in the south of the country had the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus.

Tests were ordered after the dead poultry were discovered on two farms in Ein Hashlosha and Holit, next to the Gaza Strip in the western Negev desert.

Several people have been admitted to hospital with flu-like symptoms.
A quarantine has been imposed around the area and thousands of birds are expected to be culled over coming days.

On Thursday, Israeli Agriculture Minister Zeev Boim said the authorities were prepared to contain the virus' spread if an outbreak was confirmed.

Workers hospitalised
Speaking to reporters a day after the dead poultry were found, the director of veterinary services at the agriculture ministry confirmed the H5N1 strain had been detected.

<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="203"> <tbody><tr> <td class="sibtbg"> QUICK GUIDE

Bird flu

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Moshe Haimovitch said around 11,000 birds had died at the two farms in Israel's first outbreak of the virus.

Mr Haimovitch said officials were preparing to kill a further 300,000 birds inside the 7km (four-mile) quarantine zone around the two communities over the coming days.

Up to five people who came into contact with the infected birds at Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha and Kibbutz Holit have been admitted to a hospital in the southern city of Beersheva with flu-like symptoms.
A kibbutz between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv has also been sealed off after more birds were found dead.

Testing
The source of the outbreak has not been determined, but the Israeli army is reported to have asked the Palestinian Authority to deliver blood samples from poultry in Gaza.

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</td> </tr> </tbody></table>  </p> Both Israel and the Gaza Strip share a border with Egypt, where the virus has been found in birds in at least 15 governorates.
The BBC's Caroline Hawley in Jerusalem says it is not clear what the response to the Israeli request has been at a time of increased tension between Israelis and Palestinians after the storming of a jail in Jericho and the capture of a leading Palestinian militant earlier this week.
But Israeli officials say they are testing dead poultry in the West Bank and Gaza in a rare show of co-operation with the Palestinians.
The H5N1 strain of the virus has killed more than 70 people worldwide.

It does not pose a large-scale threat to humans, as it cannot pass easily from one person to another.

However, experts fear the virus could mutate to gain this ability, and in its new form trigger a flu pandemic, potentially putting millions of human lives at risk.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Israel confirms bird flu outbreak

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4816586.stm

BBC, News, BBC News, news online, world, uk, international, foreign, british, online, service

**Mellie** · March 19, 2006, 01:08 AM

Re: Israel: 4 people negative & more possible cases

It is not uncommon to get false negatives from throat swabs if the virus has descended to the lungs. I hope they test again in a few weeks to see if patients have seroconverted. And I hope they keep the patients isolated and give them tamiflu "just in case".

**Sally Furniss** · March 19, 2006, 11:01 PM

Re: Israel: 4 people negative & more possible cases

Fears woman, teen contracted bird flu alleviated

Sixty-year-old Kibbutz Nirim resident evacuated to hospital due to fever; 17-year-old from nearby kibbutz who worked in chicken coop also evacuated after feeling unwell; both released following negative tests
Anat Bershkovsky

<script>var agt=navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase();var is_major = parseInt(navigator.appVersion);var is_ie = ((agt.indexOf("msie") != -1) && (agt.indexOf("opera") == -1));var is_ie5 = (is_ie && (is_major == 4) && (agt.indexOf("msie 5.0")!=-1) ); function txt_link(type,url,urlAtts) { switch (type){ case 'external' : if( urlAtts != '' ) {var x = window.open(unescape(url),'newWin',urlAtts)} else {document.location = unescape(url);} break; case 'article' : urlStr = '/articles/0,7340,L-to_replace,00.html';url=urlStr.replace('to_replace ',url); if( urlAtts == '' || !urlAtts) {document.location = url;} else {var x = window.open(url,'newWin',urlAtts)} break; case 'yaan' : urlStr = '/yaan/0,7340,L-to_replace,00.html';url=urlStr.replace('to_replace ',url); if( urlAtts == '' || !urlAtts) {document.location = url;} else {var x = window.open(url,'newWin',urlAtts)} break; case 'category' : urlStr = '/home/0,7340,L-to_replace,00.html'; url=urlStr.replace('to_replace',url); if( urlAtts == '' || !urlAtts) {document.location = url;} else {var x = window.open(url,'newWin',urlAtts)} break; } } function setDbLinkCategory(url) {eval(unescape(url));}</script> Soroka Hospital staff examined Sunday evening two people for fear they had contracted the bird flu virus. The two, a 60-year-old woman who works near a coop and a 17-year-old youth arrived at the hospital after feeling unwell.

Both were released after tests proved negative.

The woman, a resident of Kibbutz Nirim has been suffering from high fever since Friday, and the youngster, from Kibbutz Kissufim, worked in a chicken coop last week and began feeling ill three days later.

Dalit Dauti, the daughter of the hospitalized woman told Ynet earlier ?Just today she saw a doctor who immediately sent her to the hospital; I do not believe she has the disease because she works in an office and does not come in contact with the poultry.?

The hospitalized teen told Ynet that he was not placed in isolation but was told to wear a mask over his face.

?I was afraid because I worked in the coop a week ago. Three days later I became feverish, so I went to see a doctor who told me that I may have bird flu. I was immediately hospitalized and placed in isolation, but now everything seems to be fine.

?They are running blood and other tests on me, but I have to remain here as a precautionary measure,? he said, adding that there is a sense of panic at the hospital.

?People (staff) see me with the mask and immediately turn away. Everyone is afraid, but I think this is an ordinary flu.?

Three coop workers hospitalized due to bird flu concerns were also released on Sunday.

On Friday afternoon, the Ministry of Agriculture placed severe restrictions on the areas of Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, Nirim, Kissufim,
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and Holit in the south, following the outbreak of the bird flu virus.
Three residents of the southern kibbutzim of Ein Hashlosha and Holit and a man from the Sde Moshe community near Kiryat Gat were evacuated to the Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva and the Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon Friday for fear they contracted the bird flu virus, which was discovered in poultry in the area Thursday. However, tests revealed that the four people hospitalized were not infected with the disease.

Agriculture Minister Zeev Boim said in a bid to calm concerned Israelis that the public should not be afraid to eat chicken sold in stores and that ?there is no shortage of meat.?

During Sunday?s cabinet meeting, Boim updated ministers on the steps the Agriculture Ministry has taken to contain the spread of the lethal virus, which was discovered in local poultry for the first time this weekend.

Boim estimated that within 45 days all affected farms would be decontaminated and would return to being fully operational.

**Bruce** · March 20, 2006, 02:26 PM

Re: Israel: 4 people negative & more possible cases

2 foreigners suspected of contracting bird flu
(03.20.06, 21:04)

<script>var agt=navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase();var is_major = parseInt(navigator.appVersion);var is_ie = ((agt.indexOf("msie") != -1) && (agt.indexOf("opera") == -1));var is_ie5 = (is_ie && (is_major == 4) && (agt.indexOf("msie 5.0")!=-1) ); function txt_link(type,url,urlAtts) { switch (type){ case 'external' : if( urlAtts != '' ) {var x = window.open(unescape(url),'newWin',urlAtts)} else {document.location = unescape(url);} break; case 'article' : urlStr = '/articles/0,7340,L-to_replace,00.html';url=urlStr.replace('to_replace ',url); if( urlAtts == '' || !urlAtts) {document.location = url;} else {var x = window.open(url,'newWin',urlAtts)} break; case 'yaan' : urlStr = '/yaan/0,7340,L-to_replace,00.html';url=urlStr.replace('to_replace ',url); if( urlAtts == '' || !urlAtts) {document.location = url;} else {var x = window.open(url,'newWin',urlAtts)} break; case 'category' : urlStr = '/home/0,7340,L-to_replace,00.html'; url=urlStr.replace('to_replace',url); if( urlAtts == '' || !urlAtts) {document.location = url;} else {var x = window.open(url,'newWin',urlAtts)} break; } } function setDbLinkCategory(url) {eval(unescape(url));}</script> Two foreign workers from Moshav Amioz were evacuated to Beer Sheva?s Soroka hospital after they complained of feeling unwell; it is feared that the workers have contracted the bird flu virus. (Anat Bershkovsky)

2 foreigners suspected of contracting bird flu

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3230208,00.html

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Israel: 4 people negative & more possible cases

Israel: 4 people negative & more possible cases

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