Deadly bird flu spreads in Gaza Strip
Mar 24 10:19 AM US/Eastern
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The Palestinians were grappling with a spreading outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu, which is also deadly to humans, with a second case detected in the Gaza Strip.
"The H5N1 virus has been discovered in Rafah," deputy agriculture minister Azzam Tbeileh told AFP. He said measures were being taken to kill all the chickens on the farm in the southern area where the virus had been discovered.
On Wednesday, Israeli tests confirmed the first case of the H5N1 strain in the impoverished territory, in the eastern village of Juhr al-Dik.
The following day, H5N1 was found in an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. Israel itself is battling with the strain on six farms.
In an interview with the top-selling Yediot Aharanot newspaper, Israel's Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said every assistance was being offered to the Palestinians in order to help them deal with the bird flu attack.
"I have instructed the foreign and defence ministries to be in touch with the Palestinians and offer them assistance, including medicine and equipment. I have also turned to the UN and other international bodies such as the World Bank," he told the daily.
The acting leader, whose centrist Kadima party is tipped to win Israel's general election on Tuesday, also confirmed he was still tucking into chicken despite falling poultry sales in a country fearful of contracting the virus.
"Definitely -- I eat any chicken that is tested and bought in stores," he told the interviewer when asked whether poultry was still on his menu.
Israeli Agriculture Minister Zeev Boim on Friday spoke to his Jordanian counterpart Muzahem Muheisen to offer aid and cooperation in fighting Jordan's own outbreak of the deadly flu, the online edition of Yediot reported.
The Israeli authorities blame migratory birds which have been passing through the Holy Land in their hundreds of thousands as they make their way to Europe from Africa. |
