As if COVID-19 and ordinary influenza that infects humans every winter were not enough, H5N1 avian influenza (bird flu) is now attacking wild birds and domestic poultry around the world and endangering humans – and Israel is included.

The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) has called on countries to increase surveillance for highly infectious bird flu outbreaks, as the virus has been reported in over 40 countries since July. Since 2006, there have been cases of bird flu detected in Israel almost every year, but it has never been as bad as now. It is almost as if nature, intruded upon by polluting and encroaching humanity, is taking its revenge.

According to foreign reports, the H5N1, H5N3, H5N4, H5N5, H5N6 and H5N8 subtypes of HPAI are circulating in bird and poultry populations around the world, arousing concern at OIE which called this an unprecedented genetic variability of subtypes creating an epidemiologically challenging landscape.

Hundreds of thousands of wild cranes migrate from Africa to the north via Israel every year, stopping in Israel to rest and feed.  About 5,000 dead cranes were observed recently in the Hula Valley and the Golan Heights and dozens more in the Jezreel Valley over the past week. The Agamon Hula site has since been closed to visitors until further notice due to the outbreak.

Twenty percent of the wild cranes living in or migrating through Israel have been infected with the fatal H5N1 bird flu virus, with authorities expecting to have to remove 25 to 30 tons of carcasses, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority stated.

Israel’s Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg toured the area and declared: “We are in the midst of a very acute outbreak. This is one of the most serious injuries to wildlife ever in Israel. We will treat it in the most correct and environmental way.” 

Over 300,000 chickens and turkeys raised in the north of Israel were found to be infected in recent days and the farms were quarantined by the veterinary service in the Agriculture Ministry. To the great distress of the poultry farmers, they had to be killed and their eggs destroyed, wiping out entire chicken farms in some areas and threatening the country with an egg shortage and an urgent need to import more. Wildlife has also been affected.

Poultry farmers in Moshav Margaliot located along the Lebanese border and near the city of Kiryat Shmona were badly infected. A 58-year-old farmer who has raised chickens for 48 years said the Agriculture Ministry took control of all his coops, the chickens, and eggs, leaving him with nothing. Although he eventually will get government compensation, he would have to start again from nothing, he said, sobbing.  

“With all the factors, government ministries, the Nature and Parks Authority, and the Jewish National Fund,” added Zandberg, “We are monitoring the reality on the ground. We will work to treat it in the most correct and environmental way. Contact with wild birds and their secretions should be avoided during this period, and in the event that sick or dead birds are identified in the area, they should not be touched and should be reported immediately to the Nature and Parks Authority.”  

“We are in a war against a virus that may not be visible but is deadly to birds and can be contagious to humans as well,” said Agriculture Minister Oded Forer. “Although cases of infection in humans are rare, they are extremely fatal, with about 50% mortality in humans who have been infected with the disease.”

The Health Ministry urged the public to purchase poultry and eggs only from supervised stores and make sure that eggs have a seal of inspection on them. All poultry must be cooked correctly, separating raw from cooked food, cooking at proper temperatures to avoid infection.