February 3, 2006

Russia to spend US$46 million against bird flu
 

Russia will spend about US$46 million to fund new measures to stop the spread of bird flu, Russian news agencies reported Thursday.

Health Minister Mikhail Zurabov was quoted by RIA-Novosti saying the RUB 1.3 billion in funding will go toward developing vaccines against bird flu, vaccinating domestic fowl and more scientific research and training.

It was unclear over how many years the funding would be allocated.

Several Russian provinces and one Ukrainian region were hit by the virus last year, but no human cases have been registered.