Int’l - Bird flu spreads to another Russian region
Published:August 4, 2005
Source :Poultry Today
Russian veterinary officials said Tuesday, Aug. 2, that an outbreak of an avian influenza strain that can infect humans has spread to another region in Siberia, while authorities were struggling to contain the virus.
The outbreak began in the Novosibirsk region in early July and has killed thousands of domestic fowl. The veterinary service last week identified the virus as the H5N1 strain, which can fatally infect humans, but no human cases have been reported in Russia.
The same strain has been recorded in a village in the adjacent Altai territory, and Yevgeny Nepoklonov, a deputy head of the nation's veterinary service, said on NTV television Tuesday that it has also been found in a village in the Tyumen region, further west in Siberia.
Domestic fowl also died in the nearby Omsk region, but the strain there has not yet been determined.
"A quarantine has been imposed on the settlements affected, and necessary measures are being taken to contain the sources of infection," the veterinary service said in a statement.
The Emergency Situations Ministry said Tuesday the outbreak already has killed 2,707 domestic fowl, including 325 since Sunday morning.
Authorities in all regions affected by the outbreak have tightened control over poultry farms, disinfecting their workers and checking fowl. The administration of the Novosibirsk region has ordered the slaughter of 65,000 domestic fowl in all 14 villages affected.
Several regional governments also have imposed bans on poultry sales across provincial borders.
Gennady Onishchenko, Russia's chief epidemiologist, sought to assuage public fears during an inspection trip to the Novosibirsk region Tuesday, saying the outbreak was being successfully contained.
The veterinary service said the virus apparently had been brought by birds migrating from Southeast Asia. The virus has swept through poultry populations in large areas of Asia since 2003, killing tens of millions of birds and at least 60 people, most of them in Vietnam and Thailand.
Almost all the humans who have been killed contracted the virus from poultry, but experts worry it could mutate into a more deadly virus that could spread from person to person.
