Bird flu breaks out in West Bank

14 May 2010 9:04 AM

Washington - Three-quarters of a million chickens will be culled in the Bal'a village near Tulkarem as a result of an avian flu outbreak, Ma'an News Agency reported Friday.

The outbreak of bird flu in Bal'a is reported to cost the farmers losses in the millions [Photo: Philcampbell - Flickr]

Bal'a is a major egg and poultry-producing village, exporting up to 5,000 cartons of eggs and hundreds of pounds of meat each day across the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority (PA) Ministry of Agriculture said the bird flu epidemic will likely wipe out the town's poultry stock. Bal'a poultry farmers estimate losses in the millions of shekels.

The situation is dire, Bal'a municipal council official Ahmad Mansur said: "Tension and anxiety are prevailing among the farmers. At least 40% of the town's economy is in chickens."

Mansur has urged the government to compensate the farmers before the town is bankrupted.

The avian flu outbreak came to light when a farmer noticed symptoms in some of his chicks and called officials in to test the birds. "The chicks were only 8 days old when we learned that they were in fact positive for the virus," Hanun said.

"We were [then] obliged to declare a state of emergency in Bal'a," he explained, "imposing a health quarantine on all of the area and taking preventive procedures so we don't see the spread of the virus to other areas."

No human cases of the aggressive flu have been reported, but PA officials said the area is being closely monitored. Municipal official Sa'eed Hanun said doctors are monitoring the clinics and distributing information on bird flu to families in the area. Treatment will be immediately available in the event human cases are discovered, he said.

Hanun said the farm land and chicken holding will be sterilized, "and the birds will be buried in a healthy and safe way."

A quarantine parameter of up to 3 kilometers from the epicenter of the infected farm will go in place, advisor to the minister of agriculture Dr. Makhamareh said. The quarantine will include towns in Nablus and Jenin districts.