Israel says H5N1 bird flu strain found in chickens

(Adds culling in paragraph 4)

by Joseph Nasr

JERUSALEM, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Israeli officials said on Thursday the deadly bird flu strain H5N1 had been found in dead chickens from a kindergarten pet zoo.

"The H5N1 bird flu strain has been found in the fowl," the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement, referring to 18 dead chickens found in the kindergarten.

The H5N1 type could be transmitted from fowl to humans.

Government veterinarians have been ordered to cull all birds in commercial farms and private courtyards within a 3-km (1.9-mile) radius of the kindergarten. Pet birds, however, will be spared, the statement said.

Parents of children at the kindergarten, in the northern town of Binyamina, were urged to watch out for signs of high fever, the most common symptom associated with the virus.

About a dozen birds in the kindergarten were culled.

Investigators were checking for any indication of an outbreak at poultry farms within a 10-km (six-mile) radius of Binyamina, the Agriculture Ministry said.

Israel culled around 1.2 million chickens and turkeys in March 2006 after chickens in several communal farms were found to have been infected with H5N1.

Human deaths from bird flu total more than 210 worldwide since 2003 and have been reported in several Middle Eastern countries. Migratory birds are seen as the main culprits in spreading bird flu from Asia to the Middle East and Europe.

Health experts fear the virus could mutate into H5N1 that spreads easily from one person to another, possibly triggering a pandemic that could kill millions. (Editing by Richard Williams)