To Russia With Love-Bird Flu Strikes

Bird flu has come to Russia after quarantine measures were lifted August 2006. The incidence of bird flu in 2006 resulted in an epidemic that called for the culling of 1.5 million birds.

The present outbreak is near the country’s Black Sea coast.

“A laboratory analysis has uncovered the H5N1 bird flu virus in poultry at three locations in the southern Krasnodar region,” says Aleksei Alekseyenko, an official at the country's agricultural inspection agency.

"A series of anti-epizootic measures are being undertaken in the unfortunate areas to control the infection,” adds the official.

Earlier Monday, the European Commission had confirmed the first outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus in the European Union since mid-2006 after tests on Hungarian geese proved positive.

Last week Japan and Hong Kong reported fresh cases of strains of the virus, and Indonesian authorities have revealed that an eight-year-old girl has become the latest person in the country to die from it.

The deadly strain of bird flu, H5N1, has claimed dozens of human lives since it first appeared in Asia in 2003, and it has since spread worldwide.

Scientists fear the virus could mutate into a form transmissible between humans, sparking a global pandemic, alike the Spanish Flu in 1918 that killed millions of people.

The H5N1 virus has so far killed about 160 people worldwide since late 2003, mostly in Asia.

No human fatalities from the virus have been reported in Russia.

Source-Medindia
ANN