August 31, 2006

Russia reports H5N1 bird flu in Siberian Omsk region

Russia's federal agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor Wednesday (Aug 30) said migrating birds with the H5N1 strain of bird flu had been found on 14 lakes in the Omsk region in central Siberia.

Rosselkhoznadzor also said H5N1 had been found in samples from migrating birds on the Ubsa-Nur Lake in the Siberian Tyva Republic.

According to Rosselkhoznadzor, bird flu has been eliminated in all other locations reported earlier in the Altai, Kransoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Tomsk and Tyva regions.

There are 8 million poultry in the potentially vulnerable locations to bird flu in Siberia, and 10 million poultry are being vaccinated, including areas neighbouring those where there are particularly large numbers of migrating birds.