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JERUSALEM - Two Israeli men who recently returned from Mexico have been confirmed to have contracted swine flu in the first such cases in Israel and the Middle East, local media reported on Tuesday.
Israeli health ministry officials held emergency consultations to determine whether any new measures were needed to protect against the flu that the World Health Organisation has warned has "pandemic" potential.
"It is now official that the swine flu has arrived in Israel," army radio said.
The authorities initially said that 26-year-old Tomer Vajim who had returned from a trip to Mexico four days before, had contracted the potentially deadly virus.
Vajim's five-year-old niece was taken to a hospital for observation after having been in contact with her uncle.
"The virus was confirmed," said Matilda Schwartz, spokeswoman for the Laniado hospital in the coastal city of Netanya, where Vajim had been undergoing tests since Sunday.
"He is in quarantine, he is feeling well," she said.
A few hours later, army radio reported that a second man who had been quarantined on his return from Mexico was found to have contracted the virus.
The 49-year-old had been admitted to a hospital near Tel Aviv after complaining of flu symptoms.
Defence Minister Ehud Barak said in a statement that his ministry had formed a "crisis cell" that would be charged with dealing with the outbreak should the disease spread inside Israel.
Because pork is banned under Jewish law, Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman of ultra-religious United Torah Judaism party has said the virus should be called "Mexican flu" in Israel, although his call appeared to go unheeded.
The multi-strain virus has swept the world in recent days, with at least 17 countries far beyond worst-hit Mexico reporting confirmed or suspected infections. The virus is believed to be a mix of a human flu virus and an avian flu that first came from swine.
In Israel's neighbour Egypt, parliament called for the nation's 250,000 pigs to be killed immediately because of fears over the spread of swine flu, the state news agency MENA reported.
"The People's Assembly urged the government to immediately start culling pigs and not to relocate pig-breeding farms away from residential areas for fear of the spread of swine flu," MENA said.
Egypt's 80-million population consists mainly of Muslims, whose religion forbids them from eating pork, as well as an estimated six to 10 percent Christian Copts who may eat pig meat.
Pigs are mainly raised on the streets of Cairo districts inhabited by Christian rubbish collectors and recyclers. Egyptian authorities have called repeatedly for the pigs to be relocated to a site south of Cairo.
MENA also reported that a pig abattoir in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria had already been shut down "as part of precautionary measures" against swine flu.
The United Arab Emirates, home to the Middle East's largest airport in Dubai, said it was putting all airports under strict surveillance to spot anyone arriving who might have swine flu.
So far "the UAE is free of this disease ... and so is the region," UAE Health Minister Humaid al-Qutami told reporters at a press conference in Dubai.
Neighbouring Gulf country Bahrain has decided to suspend any imports of live pigs or any pork products.
- AFP/ir
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