March 23, 2006

Ukraine free from bird flu, lifts Crimean quarantine

Ukraine has completely eradicated bird flu and the quarantine in the Crimean village of Solnechnoe has been lifted, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Melnik said Wednesday (Mar 22), according to the government press service.

Melnik said, "Today we can state that there is no bird flu in Ukraine."

He also said Ukrainian government had not yet decided whether to vaccinate against bird flu, and said it would wait to see if the method was effective in other countries.

Ukraine has received vaccination for the H5N1 strain from China and for the H5N2 strain from the Netherlands. Melnik said the vaccines received from China and the Netherlands were being examined by local scientists, which would take at least another 60 days, after which decisions whether to use the vaccines would be taken.

Bird flu was first reported in Crimea in December 2005.