Poultry:Outbreak in Israel kibbutz

[Susie]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4814456.stm


Last Updated: Thursday, 16 March 2006, 17:27 GMT


Dead birds spark Israel flu fears

Israel has banned the import of poultry to limit the spread of bird flu
Hundreds of dead poultry have been found on a farm in southern Israel, raising fears of the country's first outbreak of bird flu, officials said.
The dead birds were found in a hen house on Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha next to the Gaza Strip in the western Negev.

Reports said the agriculture ministry suspected the cause of death had been bird flu virus, although it was not clear if it was the H5N1 strain.

The kibbutz and nearby communities have been sealed off as a precaution.

The H5N1 strain of the virus has killed more than 70 people worldwide.

Cases of the of strain have been reported in at least 15 governorates in Israel's southern neighbour, Egypt.



http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3228727,00.html

Turkeys die of bird flu in southern kibbutz


Turkeys were found dead in two kibbutzim in the south, raising fears of a bird flu pandemic in the foul growing communities.


Veterinary experts called to the scene said the birds were likely victims of the deadly avian flu. (Mital Yasur Beit-Or)

 

[Texanna]

Re: Outbreak in Israel kibbutz

Re: Outbreak in Israel kibbutz

Initial test: Turkeys in south didn't die from deadly strain of bird flu

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3228767,00.html

An initial test into the turkeys who died in the south found that their blood contained only one component of the deadly bird flue strain, H5N1.


If the test results are confirmed, it will mean that the strain from which the birds died are not dangerous to people. (Meital Yasur Beit-Or)

 

[DB]

Re: Outbreak in Israel kibbutz

Re: Outbreak in Israel kibbutz

Of course.

Why should Isreal get it?

Sure, every country surrounding Isreal has H5N1, but it's possible Isreal could be BF free.

I guess we can lump this in the same bin as "When pigs fly".

 

[DB]

Re: Outbreak in Israel kibbutz

Re: Outbreak in Israel kibbutz

http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3228798,00.html

Bird flu: Health minister holds emergency meeting

Health Ministry officials try to calm public down, say disease currently infective only among poultry
Anat Barshkovsky

<STYLE>P{margin:0;} UL{margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;margin-right: 16; padding-right:0;} OL{margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;margin-right: 32; padding-right:0;}</STYLE><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></B>Health Minister Jacob Edery is expected to convene a special meeting Thursday night in light of suspicions that the bird flu epidemic has reached kibbutzim in the south of Israel.


The meeting will be attended by the ministry's director-general and public health experts.

Professor Manfred Green, director of the Health Ministry's Disease Control Center, tried to calm the Israeli public down.

<TABLE dir=ltr style="TABLE-LAYOUT: fixed; WIDTH: 268px" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=text16w style="PADDING-RIGHT: 5px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #669acc" align=middle>Israel Concerned</TD></TR><TR bgColor=#e5f0f4 height=9><TD></TD></TR><TR bgColor=#e5f0f4><TD><TABLE dir=rtl cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle><TABLE dir=ltr cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=240 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=text16 align=left>Fear: Bird flu reaches Israel / Meital Yasur-Beit Or</TD></TR><TR bgColor=#e5f0f4 height=7><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD class=text13>Health Ministry's biggest concern realized Thursday evening in two southern kibbutzim: Initial tests conducted following high mortality rate of turkeys raise suspicion that poultry died from bird flu

</TD></TR><TR><TD align=right>Full story</TD></TR><TR bgColor=#e5f0f4 height=15><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>​

"There is suspicion for bird flu infected only by chicken. Only in rare occasions may humans working with poultry be infected. In any case, this is not a disease that can be transferred from one human being to another at this stage. The infection of human beings by winged creatures is a phenomenon that usually takes place in southeast Asia. In organized henhouses this usually does not happen," he said.

According to Professor Green, if the lab test results turn out to be positive, the Tamiflu medication, which was developed against the virus, will be given in the coming days.

"The source of the infection is still unknown, but it could be from wandering birds. As we already said, we expected the virus to reach Israel since we are on the wandering route," he said.

Infected birds were discovered at Louis Rothman's henhouse in Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha.


"We are very worried, especially the family. We do take off our clothes and take a shower before entering the henhouse and after leaving it, but we are still concerned," Rothman told Ynet.


"When I came home, I was immediately sent to take another shower," he added.



Kibbutz members indifferent


Other community members, however, seem to be indifferent to the situation. Most of the residents are less concerned.


"We have been breeding poultry for 40 years now. There are birds and there are diseases and we are used to it. At the moment we have nothing to be afraid of," said the kibbutz's secretary, Rami Negbi.


Marcelo Palsik, one of the poultry farmers, decided to take the joke one step further and his family members now answer the phone saying "hello bird flu."


The district doctor is expected to arrive at the kibbutz Thursday evening to talk to the residents about the dangers and the steps that need to be taken. For now, the instruction given to the residents was to avoid approaching the henhouses.

 

[DB]

Re: Outbreak in Israel kibbutz

Re: Outbreak in Israel kibbutz

Marcelo Palsik, one of the poultry farmers, decided to take the joke one step further and his family members now answer the phone saying "hello bird flu."

It is nice to know the Jewish people have not lost their sense of humor.

 

[Snowy Owl]

Re: Outbreak in Israel kibbutz

Re: Outbreak in Israel kibbutz

Turkeys at Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha. (Limor Edrey)
Last update - 22:55 16/03/2006
Bird flu feared in Israel after fowl found dead in south
By Assaf Uni amd Amiram Cohen, Haaretz Correspondents, and Agencies
Israeli authorities were bracing for a potential outbreak of the deadly strain of avian flu Thursday, after more than one thousand poultry were found dead in southern Israel.

The suspected bird flu was found in birds at hen-houses on Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha in the western Negev. There are also reports of huge numbers of dead birds in nearby communities, including Kibbutz Holit.

The Agriculture Ministry and the Veterinarian Services imposed a full quarantine on both Ein Hashlosha and Holit, and roadblocks have been erected on the main routes into the area.



The nearby communities of Kibbutz Nahal Oz and Nirim were also fully quarantined, even though no suspected bird flu cases were found there.

According to the ministry's instructions, the movement of any winged species was forbidden in a 3km radius from the communities, hen-houses may be approached only by their workers, and any person or vehicle found in the vicinity of poultry in the area must undergo a sanitation procedure.

Chief veterinarian for avian disease at the Veterinary Services Dr. Shimon Pokominski said that final results of the tests confirming or denying the presence of avian flu will be available on Friday afternoon at the earliest. The procedure might possibly take longer to complete, however, Pokominski said.

Boim refuses to identify virus
The Agriculture Ministry convened an emergency session to discuss the issue, but refused at this stage to identify the virus.

Agriculture Minister Ze'ev Boim said Israel was still testing the birds to determine whether they had the feared flu strain.

"Tonight, we will likely find out if indeed we are talking about bird flu," Boim told Channel 1 television on Thursday evening. "In the meantime, it is a suspicion."

"We have imposed a quarantine in a radius of 7 kilometers around the area, and we are prepared, in case our suspicions are confirmed, to prepare for a widescale destruction of the flocks in a radius of 3 kilometers," he said.

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 could have entered the country from Egypt.

The Israel Defense Forces requsted Thursday from health authorities in the Palestinian Authority to deliver blood samples of poultry from Gaza Strip hen-houses in order to determine whether they were the source of the suspected deadly strain.

According to medical sources, initial tests carried out Thursday on a number of turkeys on the kibbutz showed that the birds had died from avian flu, although the virus must still be isolated to confirm that it is the deadly H5N1 strain.

Boim stressed that Israelis should remain calm until the tests have been completed. The Veterinary Service has warned the public not to approach birds suspected of having the virus, but to contact the service immediately.

At this stage, only those in the immediate vicinity of the fowl are in danger of catching the disease. Anyone who has been in contact with the birds on either kibbutz is to get in touch with the local health authority.

To date, the disease cannot be passed from human to human, but can only be contracted through eating the meat of animals infected with the virus.

If there is an outbreak of the virus in Israel, the authorities are expected to follow an action plan that includes quarantining the coops where bird flu is suspected and testing all poultry in the country in an effort to prevent the disease spreading.

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.


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

 

[Snowy Owl]

Re: Outbreak in Israel kibbutz

Re: Outbreak in Israel kibbutz

Dead birds spark Israel flu fears

<!-- S BO --> <!-- S IIMA --> <table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="203"> <tbody><tr><td>

Israel has banned the import of poultry to limit the spread of bird flu

</td></tr> </tbody></table> <!-- E IIMA --> <!-- S SF --> Hundreds of dead poultry have been found in two communities in southern Israel, raising fears of the country's first case of bird flu, officials say. Israeli Agriculture Minister Zeev Boim said the dead turkeys were found in Ein Hashlosha and nearby Holit, next to the Gaza Strip in the western Negev region.
Mr Boim said officials suspected the bird flu virus was the cause of death, although testing was still under way.
A 7km (four-mile) quarantine zone has been imposed around the communities. <!-- E SF -->
The H5N1 strain of the virus has killed more than 70 people worldwide. Cases of the strain have been reported in birds in at least 15 governorates in Israel's southern neighbour, Egypt.


'Suspicion'
Speaking on Israeli television, Mr Boim said the agriculture ministry could not be certain of the cause of the turkeys' deaths until a number of the birds had been tested.


<!-- S IINC --><table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="203"> <tbody><tr> <td class="sibtbg">

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/quick_guides/05/health_bird_flu/html/1.stm

</td> </tr> </tbody></table><!-- E IINC -->
"Tonight, we will likely find out if indeed we are talking about bird flu," he told Israel TV.
"In the meantime, it is a suspicion."
But Mr Boim said the authorities were prepared to contain the virus' spread if an outbreak was confirmed.


"We have imposed a quarantine in a radius of 7km 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 3km (two miles)," he said.
The tests will also determine if the birds died of the H5N1 strain of the virus, which can be caught by humans who handle infected birds, but it is not yet known to have passed from one person to another.


<!-- E BO -->However, experts fear the virus could mutate to gain this ability, and in its new form trigger a flu pandemic that could kill millions.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4814456.stm

 

[DB]

Re: Outbreak in Israel kibbutz

Re: Outbreak in Israel kibbutz

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=1733384

Mar 16, 2006 ? JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel suspects bird flu killed turkeys on two farms in its southern Negev region although there were no test results yet, Agricultural Minister Zeev Boim said on Thursday.
Boim said the ministry had quarantined the area, which lies near the densely populated Gaza Strip.
There have been no confirmed cases of the bird flu virus in Israel or Palestinian areas, although authorities have looked into several false alarms.
"We are still at the stage of examination and there is a fear because of the death of a large number of turkeys in Ein Halshlosha and Holit," Boim said on Israel Radio, referring to the two farms.
"There is a real possibility of bird flu and there is need to take operational steps until it's totally clear what it is."
The Haaretz newspaper and Israel Radio, quoting medical sources, had said initial tests showed the dead turkeys had the virus, although it still had to be isolated to confirm if it was the deadly H5N1 strain.
More than a thousand poultry had died in the area, Haaretz reported on its website (www.haaretz.com).
Israel Radio reported a 38-year-old man who slaughtered poultry for a living was being tested for possible bird flu in the northern coastal city of Haifa. He had been placed in an isolation ward, it said.
The H5N1 strain of bird flu has spread with alarming speed in recent weeks across Europe, Africa and parts of Asia.
The more it spreads, the greater the fears of the virus mutating into a form that could easily pass from one person to another, triggering a pandemic in which millions could die.

 

[DB]

Re: Outbreak in Israel kibbutz

Re: Outbreak in Israel kibbutz

Now it is more than a thousand dead poultry and it appears they have a suspected human case in quarantine.

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: Outbreak in Israel kibbutz

Re: Outbreak in Israel kibbutz

<table border="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td>Hundreds of dead poultry raise bird flu fears in Israel
Mar 16 12:18 PM US/Easternhttp://www.breitbart.com/cgi/email_story.cgi </td> <td align="right">
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> Hundreds of poultry were found dead in a kibbutz in southern Israel raising fears of the first outbreak of deadly bird flu in the Jewish state.
"We have found hundreds of dead poultry and other sick birds on a kibbutz in the south of Israel, which makes us worried about the appearance of the bird flu virus," one agriculture ministry official told AFP.

"The initial tests indicated it was bird flu although these were not the final results and everything is still being tested in the laboratories", another official said.
Dozens of dead chickens were also found in communities close to the Ein Hashlosha kibbutz in the Negev desert east of the Gaza border, the website of the Haaretz daily reported.
Both the kibbutz and the adjacent communities were sealed off by the agricultural ministry, the website said.
Israel imposed a ban on all meat imports from the Gaza Strip on February 17 following the discovery of the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus in Egypt.
The outbreak of bird flu in Egypt on Israel's southern border saw flocks destroyed and transport restrictions imposed to stem the spread of a disease costing the industry around 1.7 million dollars a day.

 

[Bruce]

Re: Outbreak in Israel kibbutz

Re: Outbreak in Israel kibbutz

Israeli officials say 11,000 turkeys died from suspected bird flu


March 16, 2006 10:14 PM
JERUSALEM (AP) - About 11,000 turkeys have died in what Israeli officials suspect is the country's first outbreak of the dangerous H5N1 strain of bird flu, and officials will decide shortly whether to destroy tens of thousands of other birds.After preliminary tests, Health Minister Yaakov Edri told Army Radio 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 said.An Agriculture Ministry spokeswoman, Dafna Yarisca, told The Associated Press it could take anywhere from hours to days until final results were in.The suspected outbreak in Israel was centered on the Negev Desert farming community of Ein Hashlosha and the nearby community of Holit, where thousands of turkeys died.Officials imposed a quarantine in a radius of four miles around the area, and were prepared to destroy flocks in a radius of two miles if suspicions were confirmed, Edri said.''In the coming hours we will decide whether to destroy birds; if further steps are required, we will take them. ... We're talking about tens of thousands of birds,'' he said.No cases of human illness have been reported, Edri said.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.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 Agriculture Minister Zeev 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 0113EST
http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=564701033331557097

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: Outbreak in Israel kibbutz

Re: Outbreak in Israel kibbutz

Bird flu: 2 more kibbutzim quarantined

Agriculture Ministry officials fear virus discovered in 2 southern communities' poultry is of lethal H5N1 type; closure imposed on 2 additional kibbutzim, hundreds of thousands of poultry may have to be exterminated
Meital Yasur Beit-Or

Bird flu threat: Health Ministry officials have expressed a growing concern Friday that the bird flu virus detected in two southern communities in the Western Negev region Thursday may be of the lethal H5N1 type.

The heads of three southern kibbutzim ? Ein Hashlosha, Kissufim and Nirim, were instructed by the Agriculture Ministry's veterinary services Friday to prepare for the possibility they will have to exterminate hundreds of thousands of poultry as a result of the virus.

If the instruction comes into force, Kissufim will have to eliminate 200,000 poultry, Nirim 40,000 and Ein Hashlosha 66,000.

The closure that was imposed Thursday on kibbutz Ein Hashlosha and the community of Holit, where the virus was discovered, was expanded Friday to include neighboring kibbutzim Nirim and Kissufim, which are located in a three kilometers' radius from Ein Hashlosha.

 

[mariella]

Re: Poultry:Outbreak in Israel kibbutz

http://iafrica.com/news/specialreport/middleeast/978398.htm

Israel confirms bird flu virus
David Furst
Sat, 18 Mar 2006
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.

 

[Susie]

Suspected Bird Flu in more kibbutzim

Suspected Bird Flu in more kibbutzim

http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=100437

Suspected Bird Flu in Nir Oz and Ami Oz
09:24 Mar 20, '06 / 20 Adar 5766


(IsraelNN.com) There has been a suspected outbreak of avian flu in two more yishuvim in the south. The veterinary services have reported possible cases in Kibbutz Nir Oz and the Moshav Ami Oz.