Bird flu had been found in dead chickens from a kindergarten pet zoo in Israel, its agriculture ministry said today.
Some 18 chickens tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain which can 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 radius of the kindergarten. Pet birds, however, will be spared.
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.
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.