June 28, 2006

New bird flu outbreak hits Siberia

A new outbreak of bird flu has hit the West Siberian region of Tomsk, the local administration said Tuesday (Jun 27).

A representative said a laboratory analysis confirm pigeons that died in a village last week have the deadly H5N1 virus.

The representative said all the pigeons and chickens from the courtyard have been culled, the representative said.

Governor of Siberia Viktor Kress has ordered vaccination as a preventive measure against the disease, which killed or caused the culling of over a million birds in Russia in February-April.

Bird flu hit 10 villages in three West Siberian regions in late May.