February 23, 2007

H5N1 confirmed in eight Moscow suburbs

The H5N1 bird-flu strain has been confirmed in eight suburban Moscow districts, a top Russian veterinary official said Thursday (Feb 22), as experts enforced a quarantine in several villages and sought to keep the disease from spreading.

Nikolai Vlasov, head of agriculture oversight agency Rosselkhoznadzor, told reporters that increased awareness about bird flu had led to a rush of calls from people reporting bird deaths.

There were now eight areas where H5N1 has been confirmed, three of which were recently added, he said.

Russian news reports cited local officials as saying, meanwhile, that a ninth suburban district had reported poultry dying of bird flu. The report couldn't immediately be confirmed.

The virus, which began killing domestic birds in the Moscow suburbs on Feb 9, has been traced to a single animal market just outside the capital.

The Emergency Situations Ministry said Wednesday that at least 333 domestic birds have died since Feb 9, and an additional 1,833 have been killed at eight locations on Moscow's outskirts.

Officials have enforced a quarantine around the affected districts, spraying down vehicle tires and vaccinating poultry.

Some residents of Ramenskoye, a town south-east of the capital, said they had seen no signs of dead poultry.