March 22, 2006

Russia vaccinates birds at Moscow's zoo against bird flu

Authorities vaccinated birds at Moscow's Zoo Tuesday (Mar 21) as part of a programme to protect domestic fowl in Russia against the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.

For the workers tasked with giving the injections, however, catching up with the birds proved a challenge. Some zoo workers were forced to chase after uncooperative birds with nets.

"We put the vaccine in the syringe and inject it into the bird's chest," said Nataliya Istratova, the zoo's spokeswoman. "It's stressful for (the birds), but better to be in the hands of a doctor than in death's grip."

Russia's lower house, the State Duma, heard testimony Tuesday from the country's top sanitary official on measures being taken to deal with the spread of bird flu. Gennady Onishchenko told deputies the country had sufficient supplies of vaccine and had set up a nationwide monitoring headquarters.

"The situation is under control," Onishchenko assured lawmakers.

Some 50,000 doses of vaccine have been provided to inoculate fowl in Moscow, the Emergency Situations Ministry said in a statement.

Cases of bird flu have been detected in eight regions in southern Russia that are in the path of migratory birds, according to the Agriculture Ministry.

About 1.3 million birds have either died from bird flu or been culled in Russia so far this year, compared with 662,000 birds in 2005.