More Dead Birds Being Tested for Bird Flu in Russia
Pastor Dale Morgan
More Dead Birds Being Tested for Bird Flu in Russia*
By ALEX NICHOLSON
The Associated Press
Wednesday, February 21, 2007; 1:56 AM
MOSCOW -- Tests were being carried out on poultry found dead in several
new areas in suburban Moscow to determine whether the birds had died of
the same H5N1 bird flu strain that has affected birds in other areas on
the outskirts of the Russian capital, officials said Tuesday.
The birds that died had been purchased at the same animal market just
outside Moscow that has been the source of birds infected with H5N1 in
at least four districts around the capital, according to Nikolai Vlasov,
a top official with the federal agriculture oversight agency
Rosselkhoznadzor. The market has remained closed for disinfection.
Vlasov told RIA Novosti news agency it would take a few days to identify
the cause of the poultry deaths.
The poultry that died belonged to individuals who had bought birds
recently. Many people in the Moscow suburbs keep small numbers of
chickens and other farm animals in their yards.
Vlasov sought to allay fears about the safety of the consumption of
poultry products, emphasizing that commercial farms are strictly
controlled for sanitary safety.
"We've already said that the produce from battery farms _ and its is
mainly this kind that shops stock _ is safe," he said. He added that
markets also were monitored but warned about buying birds from
individual vendors outside official stores and markets.
Officials said the virus strain was of a highly virulent subtype and
could have originated in Asia, the Caucasus region or the Balkans.
Several people who had been in close contact with the dead birds were
under medical observation, officials said, but no health problems had
been reported.
No human cases of bird flu have been reported in Russia, which had its
first reported cases of the H5N1 strain in Siberia in 2005. Outbreaks
have since occurred farther west, but mostly in southern areas far from
the capital.
At least 190 domestic birds died between Feb. 10 and Feb. 19 on the
outskirts of Moscow, and H5N1 has been confirmed at farms in four
districts near Moscow, Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said in a
statement.
An additional 75 birds were found dead Tuesday in the town of Ramenskoye
east of Moscow, the Interfax news agency reported, citing regional
veterinary officials.
Another 20 poultry deaths were registered in the village of Yershovskoye
in the western Odintsovo region and seven birds died in the village of
Solodovo in the northwestern Volokolamsk region, Vlasov said.
Since it began ravaging Asian poultry farms in late 2003, the H5N1
strain has killed at least 167 people worldwide, according to the World
Health Organization.
Although it remains difficult for humans to catch, health authorities
across the world are monitoring the strain out of concern it could
mutate into a form that easily spreads from person to person and spark a
pandemic.