JERUSALEM, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security reported Sunday that it has detected an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, at a northern poultry farm.
The infections of H5N1, an influenza subtype, were discovered at a breeding coop housing 34,000 broiler chickens in the village of Nahalal in the Jezreel Valley, about 600 meters from a turkey farm where bird flu broke out earlier this month.
The latest outbreak is the third detected by the ministry in 2024, with two reported in Nahalal and another found at a turkey farm in the village of Ram-On, about 20 km south of Nahalal.
To contain the spread of the disease, all chicken coops within a 10-km radius of the infected area were quarantined, and the active monitoring of all coops in the area was initiated.
The ministry advised ornamental bird breeders and coop owners to keep their animals indoors to minimize infection risk. It also recommended that the public buy well-packaged eggs at regulated places and consume poultry and eggs only after they have been thoroughly cooked.
Bird flu is highly contagious and can affect various animals, with rare instances of human infection reported. ■
