December 20, 2005

Ukraine to impose bird flu quarantine on Crimea

Ukraine's agriculture ministry is preparing to impose a bird flu quarantine on the Crimea region, in a bid to curb the spread of the disease, the government said.

Crimea has been hit by several bird flu outbreaks lately.

Petro Verbytskyy, former head of the State Veterinary Department of Ukraine, has called for poultry accinations against bird flu in some regions. But the World Organisation for Animal Health did not support this suggestion as it might stop poultry exports to foreign markets. Some opponents of poultry vaccination claim that people would stop consuming the birds due to fear of unknown side effects.

Crimean official Anatoliy Burdyuhov also opposed poultry vaccinations against bird flu in the region because "this issue has not been studied yet," and "Crimean territory is not for experiments."