Russian Minister Confirms Bird Flu Registered South of Moscow

Mos News
Oct. 19, 2005

The bird flu virus has been detected in poultry in the region of Tula, south of Moscow, apparently carried by wild ducks, Russia’s agricultural ministry was quoted by AFP Wednesday.

“Some 3,000 fowl have been slaughtered in the village of Yandovka,” about 300 kilometers from Moscow, “after the discovery of bird flu in seven private farms,” said Nikolai Vlasov, deputy head of the ministry’s veterinary control department.

“We are practically sure that it is the same type as that diagnosed in Siberia,” the H5N1 strain of bird flu that can be deadly to humans, Vlasov told AFP.

Today’s announcement is the first time the agricultural ministry has confirmed the spread of bird flu west of Russia’s Ural mountains.

“The infection has evidently been carried by wild ducks that recently landed on a lake in the village concerned,” Vlasov said.

Cited by Itar Tass, Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev played down the seriousness of the problem.

“It is clear that the spread of bird flu in Russia has been localized,” Gordeyev said, adding that there was no sense in “dramatizing the situation.”

The ministry yesterday confirmed cases of bird flu in fowl in several Siberian provinces, apparently carried by migratory birds from Asia.

Authorities have culled hundreds of thousands of fowl and imposed numerous quarantine zones in a bid to wipe out the virus since its arrival in Siberia in the summer.