A bird flu outbreak in Siberia could soon spread to Europe, health officials warned yesterday. The potentially fatal H5N1 strain has reached the Ural Mountains, which separate Europe from Asia.
It is feared migratory birds flying to warmer climes could spread the virus to the Mediterranean and Middle East by autumn or spring. More than 11,000 fowl have been culled in the Chelyabinsk region of Siberia, where several geese, ducks and chicken have caught the virus.
An isolation ward has been set up in case anyone falls ill with the virus. No cases of human infection have been found, but a quarantine has been imposed in several villages.
It is believed the virus was brought to Russia by birds which flew north from South-East Asia. EU officials said they had no plans to increase vaccine stocks. "We are concerned and monitoring the situation closely but we are confident that what we have is sufficient," added a spokesman. Bird flu arrived in Asia in 2003.
Since then it has killed millions of birds and at least 60 people, most of them in Vietnam and Thailand. The UN has warned of a potential global pandemic if it mutates into a form which could spread easily from human to human.
