The Health Ministry ordered the flocks of turkeys on all three kibbutzim be destroyed, and the carcasses buried underground. The poultry were to be killed by consumption of poisoned water. The poultry killed may reach hundreds of thousands of birds.
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.
They also decided to test fowl in other farms in the region.
Chief 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 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.
"It's a problem for the turkeys and the chickens, but not for humans at this point," said Prof. Manfred Green, director of the Israel Center for Disease Control. "If it is bird flu, poultry will be isolated and killed in the affected area within a radius of three kilometers. Agriculture workers who have been directly in contact with them could be given antivirals as a prophylactic measure and on an individual basis. We are waiting for confirmation. So far, it seems to be the H5 strain, but we are not sure that it is H5N1, which is more infectious."
Health Minister Ya'akov Edri called an emergency meeting last night to discuss the situation.
Eshkol Regional Council head Uri Naamati said that turkeys at Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha and Kibbutz Holit started dying several days ago, and the rate of death increased rapidly on Tuesday and Wednesday.
On Wednesday the largest group of fowl died, and the company that runs the coops at Ein Hashlosha suspected that the cause of death was the deadly H5N1 strain.
The coops at Ein Hashlosha are not operated by the kibbutz, but by an outside company. Samples were sent to the Agriculture Ministry on Wednesday, and the results received Thursday tested positive for bird flu. "Definitely the H5 strain, but we are not sure if it is for certain the H5N1 strain. Personally I think it is the H5N1, but we will have to wait for the final results," Naamati told The Jerusalem Post Thursday night. "The first test results came back positive, but we are waiting for the final results which will come in Friday or Saturday," he added.
"How does the saying go: If there is doubt, then there is no doubt. We are getting ready for the next step, which is to cull the fowl within a 3-kilometer radius of the chicken coops at Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha and Kibbutz Hofit" Naamati said.
Both kibbutzim are under closure, and it is forbidden to remove any fowl from the area. People are allowed in and out of the area though, Naamati told the Post. Residents have been warned to stay away from the coops.
Two Ein Hashlosha residents who were working at the coops are under medical observation, and have been instructed to take precautionary measures, such as regular showers. These two workers wore protective clothing during their work in the coops and, according to Naamati, are not thought to have contracted any disease. "They have taken precautions and they are healthy," he said.
He could not say if the two local workers were quarantined in isolation, or are being allowed to mingle with the general population. He said only that they are being kept on the kibbutz and are being monitored.
Naamati added, however, that there were "several workers outside of the kibbutz" who also worked at the Ein Hashlosha coops who were employees of the company that runs the coops and markets the turkeys to Israeli supermarkets countrywide after they are slaughtered.
Naamati said that all the birds at Ein Hashlosha were local fowl bred at a farm in the area. The life span of a turkey at Ein Hashlosha is 26 weeks, Naamati said. "Six weeks after they are born at a breeding farm in the south of the country, they are brought to Ein Hashlosha, where they spend 20 weeks before being slaughtered and shipped out."
He said that the financial damage to the company that runs the coops, and other subsidiaries, would reach several million shekels. "Up until this moment we have not heard from the government about compensation. I don't believe we will hear about compensation and it could be that this revenue will simply be lost. But I have hope that the State of Israel will come to its citizens' help in this case," he told the Post.
He could not say for certain how the birds at Ein Hashlosha came to be infected. "It's called bird flu, you know. All it takes is one bird to fly in from Egypt [where bird flu was discovered over the past few weeks - A.M.] and infect the local fowl," he said.
Israel has had sporadic cases of avian flu in wild birds, but not of the specific H5N1 strain.
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.
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 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.