Israel reports outbreak of bird flu at southern farm

Jerusalem (Israel), December 7: Israel has reported an outbreak of the pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza at a turkey farm in the south of the country, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said in a statement on Monday.
The bird flu cases were detected at a farm in the village of Avigdor, after the owner reported abnormal mortality of turkeys in the coop, the ministry said.
The ministry's veterinary services isolated the farm area, and carried out active monitoring of all the coop farms in the area.
H5N1 bird flu can also infect other animals, such as cats, tigers and pigs, and in rare cases humans as well.
The first symptoms of bird flu in humans are usually severe respiratory illness and fever.
A large outbreak of bird flu in Israel was recorded in 2006, involving nine industrial turkey coops in the south.
Source: Xinhua