More Moscow suburbs affected by bird flu

Russian officials say two more localities near Moscow have reported what appears to be the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu.

According to a veterinary official five other districts are already affected and though they are yet to confirm the latest outbreaks the pattern is apparently the same as in the previous cases.

Nikolai Vlasov, head of veterinary surveillance at Rosselkhoznadzor (the animal and plant health watchdog) says all poultry at the affected farms have been culled and the farms have been quarantined.

He has not name the two new localities.

Russian officials have said that 190 domestic fowl had died between February 10th and February 19th in Moscow and six districts in the Moscow region are affected, Domodedovo, Odintsovo, Podolsk, Naro-Fominsk, Taldom where the H5N1 strain has been confirmed and Volokolamsk.

It was later reported that 75 hens had been found dead at a private farm in another town, Ramenskoye.

Vlasov said he expected more cases of bird flu to be registered in the region in the near future, all of which could be isolated and extinguished within two or three days.

Rosselkhoznadzor also expects new outbreaks of bird flu to occur over the next two years and in Russia and elsewhere in Europe later this year, when migrating birds begin to arrive from the south.

The current outbreaks in Russia have all been traced to Moscow's Sadovod pet market, commonly known as "Ptichka", or "Birdie", which remains in quarantine.

These outbreaks are the closest to Moscow to ever appear and are Russia's second instance of bird flu this year.

The H5N1 virus killed poultry in three settlements in the southern region of Krasnodar last month.

No human cases of bird flu have ever been recorded in Russia but five people have died from eight cases in Azerbaijan, which borders Russia to the south.

The virus has killed 167 people worldwide since 2003, mainly in Asia and in almost all those cases the victims had been in direct contact with infected birds.

A total of 273 cases worldwide have been recorded in humans.

The on-going fear is of course that the virus will mutate into a form that passes easily between humans, triggering a pandemic that could kill millions.

Authorities in the Ukraine have placed a temporary ban on poultry imports from the Moscow Region over the suspected deadly bird flu virus.