March 10, 2006

Russia confirms H5N1 in Stavropol's poultry farm

Russia's federal centre for the protection of animal health said Thursday it has established the presence of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in a poultry farm in the southern Stavropol region.

The Bogoslovskoe poultry farm, in the Kochubeyevsky district of the Stavropol region, reported its first chicken deaths in early March.

To date, of the 100,000 chickens originally present on the farm, 70,000 have died.

The federal centre said health safety standards on the farm had been breached, and a criminal investigation had been initiated.