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JERUSALEM - Israel poisoned hundreds of thousands of turkeys and chickens as it sought on Monday to contain an outbreak of the dangerous H5N1 strain of bird flu which has been spreading at an alarming rate.
U.S. researchers studying human cases said the virus in people had evolved into two separate strains, complicating efforts to develop a vaccine and prevent a pandemic.
The virus has rippled out from Asia to the Middle East, Europe and Africa in recent months, with migratory birds seen as the main culprits in spreading bird flu.
Bird flu can infect people who come into close contact with infected poultry and has killed at least 98 people since late 2003.
Experts fear the virus will mutate into a form that passes easily from person to person, sparking a pandemic in which millions could die and which could cripple the global economy.
U.S. researchers said they had identified important changes to the virus in people.
One strain, or clade, made people sick in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand in 2003 and 2004 and a second, a cousin of the first, caused the disease in people in Indonesia in 2004.
"Back in 2003 we only had one genetically distinct population of H5N1 with the potential to cause a human pandemic. Now we have two," said Rebecca Garten of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who helped conduct the study.
European officials discussed the possibility of curbing poultry production to prop up prices after a slump in sales.
Israel's neighbour Egypt said on Saturday that a 30-year-old woman had died of bird flu, the country's first reported death from the virus.
The woman was from Qaloubiyah province, about 40 km (25 miles) north of Cairo. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said tests were carried out by the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit based in Cairo and that further checks would be made at one of the WHO laboratories.
Egypt said on Sunday that a man from same area suspected of having the virus had recovered.
U.N. and government officials from across Africa met on Monday in Gabon for the region's biggest bird flu conference.
Asian Outbreaks
Bird flu has flared anew in Asia in recent days.
Malaysia reported a new outbreak of H5N1 among dead chickens in the northern state of Penang.
Six dead chickens were found in Seberang Prai, on the mainland side of a bridge that links the resort island of Penang, one of Malaysia's top tourist attractions.
The U.S. military in Afghanistan has provided some 50 protective suits for cull workers there. Afghanistan aims to start culling on Wednesday.
Health experts insist that there is no health risk from eating properly cooked eggs and poultry, but bird flu scares have depressed sales of poultry.
Europe should start cutting back on its production of chicks and hatching eggs as a first step to support poultry prices, the EU's farm chief said on Monday.
The EU's main consumer countries have seen poultry prices fall by between 15 and 20 percent in the last five months.
"What is desperately needed is to reduce production. A targeted approach on hatching eggs and chicks would, from my point of view, be the most practical approach," EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel told a news conference.
EU member Slovenia said it suspected that the virus may have spread to domestic poultry at a small farm in the northeast of the country. In Israel, birds were being given poisoned water and their carcasses were being buried in large pits. Four million doses of an H5N1 vaccine for chickens were expected to arrive from the Netherlands on Tuesday, the ministry said.
Palestinian customs officials intercepted trucks carrying 5,750 baby chicks that were being smuggled into the West Bank city of Hebron from Israel illegally.
They later began burying them alive in a large pit south of Hebron. A bulldozer was standing by to cover the hole with dirt.
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