TEL AVIV, iNews.id – Plague bird flu hit Israel. More than 2,000 birds stork Wilders in nature reserves in Northern Israel died suddenly from the disease.
The toll is unusually high for Israel’s seasonal flu outbreak, local officials said on Sunday (12/26/2021). In addition to the 2,000 storks that died, another 10,000 birds are believed to be infected with the same virus, said Ohad Hatsofe, a veterinary specialist at the Israel Parks and Nature Authority.
The bird flu virus affects Israel every year. “However, this year’s outbreak is much bigger than in previous years,” said one of the senior scientists at the authority, Uri Naveh.
Naveh described the number of storks that died this time around as “an extraordinary event”.
Every year, about 100,000 wild cranes fly to Israel in the October-December period. Most of them stop at the Hula Valley, an important point on the trail migration the birds headed for Africa.
Today, more than 40,000 storks are estimated to still exist in the area.
The population-affecting bird flu, H5N1, has been detected in several chicken populations in northern Israel, the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture said. The ministry has suspended the sale of eggs from the affected farms.
Cases of H5N1 spread among humans are rare. However, such epidemics have occurred in the past.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), H5N1 has killed more than 450 people, mainly in Indonesia, Egypt and Vietnam, since 2003.
Editor : Ahmad Islamy Jamil
