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Avian influenza is spreading: the fear - a variant that will be contagious to humans - Walla! news

2021-12-28T19:03:16.966Z


About 90,000 chickens in 3 different centers were identified as infected with bird flu, in addition to the 5,000 cranes that died in the Hula Valley. But while the Ministry of Agriculture emphasizes the need to improve the poultry farms and remove them from the localities, the Ministry of Environmental Protection warns that this will cause "a situation of habitat destruction"


Avian influenza is spreading: the fear - a variant that will be contagious to humans

About 90,000 chickens in 3 different centers were identified as infected with bird flu, in addition to the 5,000 cranes that died in the Hula Valley.

But while the Ministry of Agriculture emphasizes the need to improve the poultry farms and remove them from the localities, the Ministry of Environmental Protection warns that this will cause "a situation of habitat destruction"

Eli Ashkenazi

28/12/2021

Tuesday, 28 December 2021, 20:53 Updated: 20:54

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In the video: Evacuation of hundreds of cranes that died from bird flu in the Hula Reservoir (Photo: Hadas Kahner / Nature and Parks Authority)

Three more foci of bird flu have been found in chicken coops in Ein Hofesh in the Hefer Valley, in Ram-On in the Ta'anach region and in Givat Yoav in the Golan Heights, the Ministry of Agriculture announced today (Tuesday).

In the three infected centers, about 90,000 turkeys were identified, in addition to the 5,000 cranes that died in the Hula Valley, the dozens that died in the Jezreel Valley and about 560,000 chickens that were killed in chicken coops in the north.



The three new centers have been isolated, and active monitoring is being carried out on nearby farms.

The veterinary services at the Ministry of Agriculture are operating according to an emergency procedure, in view of the expansion of the bird flu centers, and emphasized that this is a rolling and ongoing event, in the shadow of estimates that more centers will be discovered.



Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was updated on the state of avian influenza morbidity and efforts to address the issue, and instructed to closely monitor any developments on the issue while formulating an orderly action plan in synchronizing the various bodies, and will receive regular updates.

More on bird flu

Watch: Removing the dead cranes from the sick reedbed

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The fear of other similar cases is growing.

Cranes affected by bird flu (Photo: Nature and Parks Authority, Shlomit Shavit)

The activity of the Ministry of Agriculture continues in the center of bird flu in the chicken coops in Moshav Margaliot, which supplies about one tenth of all the eggs marketed in the country. In view of the damage, in which hundreds of thousands of chickens will be killed and tens of millions of eggs will be destroyed, Agriculture Minister Oded Forer has ordered the professional echelons in his office to act to immediately import 100 million eggs into Israel in the coming weeks. His office said imports would address the expected shortage in the market. In addition, Forer promised farmers "immediate compensation" and clarified that "immediately after the event we will hold another situation assessment to make sure all farmers can continue to earn a decent living".



Simultaneously with the damage to the coops, migratory birds were also found that died from the bird flu in the areas south of the Hula Valley, where the eruption site was located. Dead cranes were found near the moshavim Balfouria and Hayogev in the Jezreel Valley, near Ramat David a dead duck was found and in the Hefer Valley a pelican was found in Mishmar Hasharon. In the village of Ruppin in the Valley of the Springs, dead cranes were found, the results of which have not yet been tested by a laboratory.



In Agmon Hahula, they began collecting the bird carcasses from the water yesterday and they were sent for sampling in a laboratory at the Hebrew University.

Despite the decline in crane mortality, it is difficult to see the end of the current eruption.

The chief scientist of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Prof. Noga Kronfeld Schur, said that there is a growing fear of other similar cases in Israel and around the world.

Cranes in the Hula Reed (Photo: Nature and Parks Authority, Shlomit Shavit)

Prof. Noga Kronfeld Schur (Photo: Official Website, Yael Tzur)

"Global warming is causing water resources to dwindle, increasing water resources to use and changes in bird migration dates and migration zones to change. The natural order is changing," Kronfeld Schur said. "Pelicans, for example, came less this year, maybe they went somewhere else and there they are exposed to other viruses that they are less resistant to, and maybe develop new mutations," she noted, adding that "these changes lead to more outbreaks."



Agriculture is also becoming "more and more intensive," Kronfeld Schur described, detailing that "large clusters of chicken coops will lead to larger outbreaks and the chance of mutations increases." Thus, for example, at the weekend a chicken coop of about 320,000 chickens contracted bird flu.



The Ministry of Agriculture has in recent days stressed the need to improve the poultry farms and bring them to a state of great biological safety compared to the current situation, adding that this also includes the need to remove the poultry farms from the localities.

Kronfeld Schur agreed that "removing poultry from localities is correct in terms of direct human health," but added that "it should be remembered that removing poultry into the wild increases interaction between wildlife and farm animals."

In addition, she noted, "the giant lollipops, which are just like factories, also harm open spaces, reduce wildlife habitats and increase pressure on populated areas."

"The natural order changes."

Evacuation of the cranes (Photo: Official website, Hadas Kahner Nature and Parks Authority)

The chief scientist described the change in natural order as "a snowball that creates risk and increases it." For example, the high density at which the cranes are in the sick reed creates favorable conditions for the spread of the disease and its acceleration. However, she explained that this reality is a necessity that has been forced as a solution to a problem that has arisen; "Water sources where the cranes have stopped in the past are no longer available to them," she described. For example, in Turkey whole areas were dried up and dams were built; Natural places where the cranes stopped in small groups no longer exist - thus creating pressure on the Hula Valley area. "The cranes that congregate at night in the water, protecting them from predators, are more exposed to the virus that passes through the water from individual to individual," she said. "We see the sick details and the carcasses in the water."



The outbreak of bird flu among cranes is on an unprecedented scale and yet, bird flu is now prevalent in many countries around the world.

"The outbreak of infectious diseases that originate in animals is increasing, almost all the major epidemics that have been in the world in recent years are diseases caused by animals - AIDS, corona, bird flu and many other diseases," Kronfeld Schur explained.

"We are causing a state of habitat destruction, more interaction, grouping of animals and pushing them towards settlements."

The global concern is that a variant will be created that will be more contagious to humans.

Avian influenza is considered in the world to be the greatest risk for a pandemic outbreak - there is no evidence that the disease is contagious from person to person, but there is concern about it.

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Source: walla

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