The Ministry of Agriculture’s Veterinary Service of Israel has declared a state of emergency after discovering a second outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in chicken coops in the Galil near the town of Margaliot. This is the second outbreak in less than a week in the Galil promoting the state of emergency.

Due to the outbreak near Margaliot, 320,000 hens were killed. During the earlier outbreak, 244,000 hens were killed.

According to the Veterinary Service, the affected chicken coops have been isolated and the sale and processing of the eggs from those coops have been stopped at the sorting station. The Ministry also announced that they have begun to examine all nearby coops for the disease.

According to the Ministry, there is now an expected shortage of 14 million eggs per month over the next few months. The Ministry has instructed that tariffs on imported eggs should be adjusted in order to compensate for the expected shortage of domestic eggs.

Making the problem worse, is that Israel is a gateway on the migration trail for hundreds of thousands of birds traveling south toward Africa. The  Agriculture Ministry has issued instructions to farmers in order to keep their birds separate from wild birds and hopefully stop the spread of the Bird flu and prevent it from infecting the human population of the country. The public has been instructed to only buy eggs from regulated stores and farms, and make sure that all eggs have a seal of inspection. The public is being warned further to fully cook all poultry and eggs.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)