Cordons and culls to stem bird flu epidemic

RUSSIA cordoned off roads and slaughtered hundreds of birds yesterday in a bid to contain the advance of a bird flu epidemic toward Europe.

The outbreak, previously confined to five remote areas of Siberia, has struck a major industrial region - Chelyabinsk in the Ural mountains, which separate Asia from Europe.

"All ill and infected birds are being slaughtered there," the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement.

It was unclear if the virus found in Chelyabinsk is the deadly H5N1 strain that has killed more than 50 people since 2003 and has hit Siberia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia since mid-July.

Carried by flocks of wild birds migrating from Siberia to warmer regions, the virus has been steadily moving toward Europe. Chelyabinsk is the westernmost region to have been struck.

It lies about 1,000km (600 miles) from where the first flu outbreak was reported.

Although no people have been affected, there are fears the disease could spread to humans on the Eurasian landmass, possibly unleashing a global influenza pandemic.

In other affected regions, police enforced road checks, and 400 birds were culled in Chelyabinsk to block a virus that has killed more than 10,000 birds countrywide.

Officials said wild birds, increasingly active in August as they prepare to migrate ahead of winter, were to blame.

Russia's top epidemiologist warned the outbreak could spread through the country's key agricultural areas in the south and then to the Middle East and Mediterranean.

In a letter to Russian health officials, Gennady Onishchenko said: "Analysis of bird migration routes has shown that in autumn 2005 the H5N1 virus may be spread from Western Siberia to the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea."

The routes lead through countries like Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq and Ukraine.

There was no word yesterday on the situation in Kazakhstan and Mongolia.