Sunday, February 18, 2007
Deadly bird flu strain in Moscow (new cases - traced to single market)
MOSCOW, Russia (AP)—Russian officials traced dead domestic poultry in several suburban Moscow districts to a single market Sunday as experts reported new outbreaks and tightened quarantines following confirmation of the presence of the H5N1 bird flu strain.
The presence of H5N1, confirmed by tests late Saturday, was the first such outbreak to be recorded so close to the Russian capital.
Four separate incidences of domestic poultry dying involved birds that were purchased at a market located just outside the Moscow city limits, federal agricultural oversight agency Rosselkhoznadzor spokesman Alexei Alexeyenko told The Associated Press.
The market was closed Saturday and experts were trying to determine the original source for the birds on sale there, he said.
On Saturday, Alexeyenko said tests had confirmed the H5N1 strain in poultry found dead in two districts where roughly two dozen birds had died—Odintsovo and Domodedovo. Results of tests taken in a third district where nearly four dozen birds died—Podolsk—were still pending, he said.
The Moscow region’s chief veterinarian, Olga Gavrilenko, told Ekho Moskvy radio on Sunday that dead domestic birds had been reported in the northern Taldom district.
Russian news agencies also reported a fifth incident of birds dying in the southwestern Naro-Fominsk district, but Alexeyenko said it was too early to tell whether bird flu was to blame.
Officials said several people who were in close contact the dead poultry were taken in for medical observation, but no health problems had been reported.
Russian television broadcast footage showing veterinary workers clad in protective suits checking homes in one district and spraying vehicle tires with disinfectant, while police began enforcing a quarantine in an effort to prevent the virus’ spread.
Nikolai Vlasov, a senior Rosselkhoznadzor veterinary official, warned that more outbreaks were possible.
“If traces of the virus appear at the poultry market, we cannot exclude the possibility that there will be new outbreaks. But there should be no panic because conditions in Russia, especially in the winter, mean that there is not even any theoretical possibility of human infection,” Vlasov said in televised comments.
No human cases of bird flu have been reported in Russia, which had its first reported cases of the H5N1 strain in Siberia in 2005. Outbreaks have since occurred farther west, but mostly in southern areas distant from the capital.