Israel detected its first cases of H5N1 bird flu on Friday, saying the virus had killed thousands of turkeys and chicken on two farms, and it hospitalized one person suspected of being infected.

Bird flu has spread with alarming speed in recent weeks across Europe, Africa and parts of Asia, stoking fears the virus could mutate into a form that could easily pass from one person to another, triggering a pandemic in which millions could die.

“Last night we informed the World Health Organization that the H5N1 virus has spread to Israel,” Dr Moshe Haimovitch, a senior agriculture ministry official, said in Tel Aviv.

Officials said they were double-checking the results and expected final confirmation soon.

Israeli agriculture officials said hundreds of thousands of fowl might need to be destroyed to contain the outbreak, discovered on two communal farms located near the Gaza Strip.

A Thai national who worked in the coops on one of the farms was admitted to hospital after complaining of flu-like symptoms.

Although hard to catch, people can contract bird flu after coming into contact with infected birds. The World Health Organization says 98 people have died from H5N1 so far.

Tests were also being carried out on a Serbian boy from a village near the border with Bosnia where bird flu had been identified in birds.

“The case is still under investigation,” World Health Organization spokesman Gregory Hartl said.

The risk of human infection means people must wear protective clothing when culling birds in areas where H5N1 has broken out.

In Afghanistan, where bird flu was confirmed on Thursday, a lack of protective suits is delaying efforts to stop the virus’s spread.

“We plan to start the culling. We’re waiting only for protective clothing,” said Azizullah Osmani, an agriculture ministry official, who added he hoped U.S. forces could supply some suits.

LOSS OF APPETITE

The spread of bird flu has shaken poultry markets around the world as consumers have lost their appetites for chicken, with some countries reporting an up to 70 percent drop in sales.

Europe’s farm chief should indicate next week how she might respond to repeated demands by European Union governments for action to support poultry prices, which have slumped.

Several states, especially Italy, asked for help some months ago from the European Commission, which administers EU law for the EU-25. While export subsidies have been raised to help reduce the poultry stockpile, no other action has been taken.

The French poultry industry, which has been hit by a series of bans on its products after the discovery of an H5N1 outbreak on a turkey farm, received a small word of comfort on Friday with news that fewer birds than expected may be culled.

Local authorities were preparing to ease rules that would mean farmers could resume selling birds that would otherwise have been culled. Under European law, if no new cases of the disease have been identified within a 21-day period after the initial discovery, marketing rules can be relaxed.

The 21 days expire on March 18.

“The relaxation of the rules provides us with some hope,” Daniel Martin, head of the local branch of France’s largest farm union, said.

But in Greece, the mood was less positive after a massive drop in sales.

“Give it another two or three months and we can then talk about a complete disaster, the end of our sector,” poultry business federation chief Spyros Nonikas told Reuters.

“We are on the brink of collapse and no half measure is going to save us now.”