Fears woman, teen contracted bird flu alleviated

Soroka Hospital staff examined Sunday evening two people for fear they had contracted the bird flu virus. The two, a 60-year-old woman who works near a coop and a 17-year-old youth arrived at the hospital after feeling unwell.

Both were released after tests proved negative.

The woman, a resident of Kibbutz Nirim has been suffering from high fever since Friday, and the youngster, from Kibbutz Kissufim, worked in a chicken coop last week and began feeling ill three days later.

Dalit Dauti, the daughter of the hospitalized woman told Ynet earlier “Just today she saw a doctor who immediately sent her to the hospital; I do not believe she has the disease because she works in an office and does not come in contact with the poultry.”

The hospitalized teen told Ynet that he was not placed in isolation but was told to wear a mask over his face.

“I was afraid because I worked in the coop a week ago. Three days later I became feverish, so I went to see a doctor who told me that I may have bird flu. I was immediately hospitalized and placed in isolation, but now everything seems to be fine.

“They are running blood and other tests on me, but I have to remain here as a precautionary measure,” he said, adding that there is a sense of panic at the hospital.

“People (staff) see me with the mask and immediately turn away. Everyone is afraid, but I think this is an ordinary flu.”

Three coop workers hospitalized due to bird flu concerns were also released on Sunday.

On Friday afternoon, the Ministry of Agriculture placed severe restrictions on the areas of Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, Nirim, Kissufim, and Holit in the south, following the outbreak of the bird flu virus.

Three residents of the southern kibbutzim of Ein Hashlosha and Holit and a man from the Sde Moshe community near Kiryat Gat were evacuated to the Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva and the Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon Friday for fear they contracted the bird flu virus, which was discovered in poultry in the area Thursday. However, tests revealed that the four people hospitalized were not infected with the disease.

Agriculture Minister Zeev Boim said in a bid to calm concerned Israelis that the public should not be afraid to eat chicken sold in stores and that “there is no shortage of meat.”

During Sunday’s cabinet meeting, Boim updated ministers on the steps the Agriculture Ministry has taken to contain the spread of the lethal virus, which was discovered in local poultry for the first time this weekend.

Boim estimated that within 45 days all affected farms would be decontaminated and would return to being fully operational.