March 3, 2006

Bird flu hits seven regions in southern Russia

Cases of bird flu have been registered in seven regions in southern Russia, a major stopover area for migrating birds, a spokesman for the agriculture ministry said Thursday.

As of March 1, the spokesman said, bird flu had hit seven regions in the Southern Federal District. A spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry said clusters of experts had been set up in each region to prevent the spread of the virus, and stricter control had been imposed on visitors from neighbouring countries.

The ministry said earlier that about half a million birds died of bird flu in February in southern Russia.

The third wave of the disease swept the country starting Feb 3 and is still ongoing, a ministry spokesman said. About half a million birds have died from a virus that lab research identified as bird flu since the pandemic broke out.

Over 1.3 million birds have died or been slaughtered in three outbreaks of bird flu since July 2005, or over 44,000 every day, the ministry said.