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| By: Israel Insider staff and partners |
| Published: April 6, 2006 |
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Half a million chickens in Gaza must be slaughtered because of exposure to bird flu, which will add to the problem of food shortages in the impoverished coastal strip, United Nations officials said on Wednesday.
Bird flu has been discovered at five poultry farming locations in Gaza since the virus was detected in the area on March 22. A quarter of a million chickens have been culled, and another 250,000 are due to be exterminated shortly. The exposed birds account for 20 percent of the poultry industry in Gaza.
At a joint news conference, U.N. officials warned that bird flu will have a devastating effect on Gaza's already weak economy.
Ambrogio Manenti of the World Health Organization estimated that at least 200,000 people_ poultry workers and their families - will be affected by a loss in income.
"Since poultry is the primary source of protein for people in Gaza, we are also very concerned about the nutritional consequences, especially with the frequent closings of the Karni crossing," said Luigi Damiani of the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization.
The United Nations warned in a recent report that Israel's frequent closures of the Karni cargo crossing - the main commercial crossing point between Israel and Gaza - has resulted in food shortages. Israel has frequently closed the crossing since January, saying that terrorists are planning attacks.
"The bird flu crisis highlights the importance of having a regular border opening," said Alvaro de Soto, the U.N. Mideast envoy.
Bird flu was discovered in Israeli villages near Gaza last month, before spreading to Gaza. Almost 1 million birds have been slaughtered in Israel. There are no confirmed outbreaks in Judea and Samaria.
Officials at Wednesday's news conference said they have been pleased by the Israeli response to the discovery of bird flu in Gaza. Israeli labs have run diagnostic tests, and Israel has provided Gaza with doses of the anti-viral vaccine for humans and with poison for culling exposed birds.
"Israel has been very proactive in this matter," de Soto said. "They realize it's a problem without passports, one that doesn't respect borders, and they jumped into it."
Officials from Egypt, Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority were meeting in Jerusalem on Wednesday afternoon to discuss working cooperatively to combat the bird flu crisis.
However, the FAO's Damiani said agricultural agencies and health workers combatting the spread of bird flu in Judea, Samaria and Gaza need more staff, training, protective gear, and more doses of the human vaccine.
The H5N1 virus 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.
World health officials fear H5N1 could evolve into a virus that would easily be transmitted between people, potentially triggering a global pandemic, though there is no evidence that is happening.
About 100 people have died from the disease worldwide, after being directly infected by sick birds. There have been no confirmed cases of human infection in Judea, Samaria or Gaza.
Jordan begins culling 50,000 poultry birds to prevent spread of avian flu
Jordan began culling 50,000 birds in poultry farms along its western border Wednesday in case avian flu has entered the country from Israel, the Ministry of Agriculture said.
Ministry spokesman Faisal al-Awawdeh said the cull was taking place in the valley of the River Jordan, which separates Jordan from the West Bank and Israel - where bird flu was detected late last month.
The culling is "a precaution to prevent the spread of avian flu to the Jordanian side of the valley," al-Awawdeh said.
Twelve days ago the government sent notices to valley residents urging them to eat their backyard chickens and turkeys or risk having them killed.
Jordan announced March 24 that avian flu had been detected in turkeys in a village near Ajloun, 75 kilometers (47 miles) north of the capital Amman. The authorities promptly destroyed about 13,500 birds within a three-kilometer (2-mile) radius of the village.
Later in March, Jordan reported that the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu had been detected in an Egyptian worker who had arrived in the kingdom from his home country.
The worker is being treated in hospital.
AP contributed to this report. |
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