NEWS: Two Siberian Villages With Bird Flu In Poultry, page 1

Poultry has been infected by Bird Flu in two Siberian villages and another 19 villages are being observed with suspected cases of the disease. The Russian agricultural ministry announced in a statement that the two infected villages are in the Kurgan Province of West Siberia and other provinces affected are Altai and Novosibirsk. It is unknown at this stage if the strain is the deadly H5N1 strain sweeping across Asia and Europe but other Siberian villages have recently been affected by H5N1 cases. Those villages have now announced they are clear of the Bird Flu.

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The statement did not specify whether the bird flu found in the two villages was of the H5N1 strain that has killed more than 60 people in Asia and which is feared could mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans and trigger a major health crisis.

Officials have on previous occasions confirmed the presence of H5N1 in some Siberian villages.

Three other provinces where bird flu was detected earlier - Chelyabinsk, Omsk and Tyumen - are now free of bird flu, the statement said.

Russian authorities have culled hundreds of thousands of fowl and imposed numerous quarantine zones in a bid to wipe out the virus since it arrived in Siberia this northern summer.

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Siberia seems out of control if these tests come back positive to H5N1, which considering the recent history is almost a foregone conclusion.

[edit on 17-10-2005 by Mayet]