March 21, 2006
By Amiram Cohen
Haaretz
The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu probably entered Israel from Egypt, sources at the Agriculture Ministry said yesterday.
This conclusion - which ministry officials are currently willing to offer only off the record - is based on the fact that the virus was first discovered in southern communities (Holit and Amioz) located near the Egyptian border.
According to the officials, the disease apparently came from Sinai via people who visited Egypt and carried the virus back with them on their shoes, clothing or personal effects.
At least one such person was then apparently employed by the turkey farms where the virus first erupted - possibly as a supplier of food or equipment, or as a driver who transported the birds to the slaughterhouse - and he transmitted the virus to these birds.
Another possibility, though this is considered less likely, is that the virus was carried from Sinai by camels, donkeys or horses ridden by Bedouin smugglers, and that these animals then transmitted the disease to a Bedouin employed at one of the affected turkey farms.
Transmitted by tourists?
A third possibility - though this, too, is considered unlikely - is that the virus was carried by tourists from Turkey, or by Israelis who had visited affected areas of Turkey.
The most unlikely possibility, according to the ministry sources, is that the virus was carried by migrating birds.
Had wild birds been the source, they explained, it would be unlikely that the virus would have broken out at more than one farm, or two at the most, at the same time, and it is also unlikely that all the affected farms would have been raising tur keys rather than some other kind of poultry.
The fact that the disease broke out at several farms, all of them turkey-breeding facilities, appears to indicate that the source was probably a human being, or vehicle, that had visited all of these farms over the past two weeks.
The officials said that it might even be possible to locate the person or vehicle in question, as the incubation period for bird flu was three to five days.
Since the disease was first diagnosed in the middle of last week, the initial infection probably took place either early last week or the preceding weekend.
However, the exact source of the disease may never be determined, the sources added.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/696514.html