March 10, 2006

Bird flu found at factory in southern Russia

The Russian agriculture ministry said Thursday that bird flu has hit a poultry factory in Stavropol Territory in southern Russia, killing 70,000 birds in a farm with 100,000 birds.

The federal veterinary service said birds started dying at the Bogoslovskoye poultry farm in early March. Lab analyses had identified the H5N1 virus strain.

As of March 1, bird flu had hit seven regions in the Southern Federal District.

Over 1.3 million birds have died or been slaughtered in three outbreaks of bird flu since July 2005, or over 44,000 every day, the ministry said. This includes more than 416,000 birds, or about 17,500 every day, that died from the virus.