March 14, 2011

Israel detects bird flu virus on turkey farm

Israel has detected H5N1 on a turkey farm in a village at Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem, resulting in over 40,000 turkeys being marked for culling.

The farms consist of three barns, each housing 14,000 birds. In one of the barns the bird flu virus was discovered in 14-week-old turkeys.

In the other two barns, 6-week-old turkeys and 4-day old turkeys were kept. The first symptoms were seen on March 5. On March 7, it was confirmed that the birds were infected with the H5N1 virus.