A blood test revealed a non-virulent strand of bird flu on Thursday in chickens belonging to Kibbutz Grufit, located in the Arava desert north of Eilat. Kibbutz workers said the chickens had not suffered an unusually high mortality rate, and that the birds had shown no symptoms of the illness. Government workers took more blood samples, the results of which will be known on Friday.
The virus was found in Israel in 2006 as well, in birds in the Lachish region and in villages in and around Gaza. Israeli officials worked with members of the Palestinian Authority to stop the spread of the virus. All chickens in the affected areas were killed.