China, Russia and Romania report fresh cases of bird flu
Thhis finding is bolstering the sobering signs that the dreaded virus might be spreading across a swath from Siberia to the shores of the Mediterranean.
The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation warned of a marked increase in chances that bird flu would move to the Middle East and vulnerable Africa as well, while the European Union announced plans for an exercise simulating a human flu pandemic to improve readiness in case the bird virus mutates to form a strain dangerous to people.
In Asia, crucible of the virus, China reported a fresh outbreak of H5N1. The official Xinhua news agency said 2,600 birds in the northern grasslands had died of the disease.
It did not give details on when the dead birds were found, and it sought to reassure the public that the outbreak was contained.
The Asian H5N1 strain was detected in Siberia in July. Migratory birds flying over the region from elsewhere in Asia were blamed for the outbreak.
The virus was registered in six districts in Siberia and the Urals region.
Further tests are needed to confirm the finding and determine whether the H5N1 strain is the same one that has decimated flocks in Asia since 2003.
If so, it would mark the first appearance of the virus in European Russia, west of the Ural Mountains.
Officials said 220 of 3,000 domestic birds in the village of Yandovka had died. Birds on the six affected farms were being destroyed, and local officials have decided to kill all poultry in the village.
In addition, a quarantine was established around Yandovka. Villagers were prohibited from leaving except in dire emergencies.
More than 200,000 people in the region were given standard flu vaccinations, the ITAR-Tass news agency said.
Such shots are given to prevent normal flu so that if the person gets infected with the bird virus, there is no human flu strain inside the body to mix with and create a dangerous hybrid.
The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed 60 people in Asia, but no one in Russia has been diagnosed with it, officials said.
The EU, meanwhile, was trying to assess whether the deadly strain had spread into Macedonia and Greece. H5N1 already has been confirmed in two villages in Romania and in Turkey.
Global health experts are keeping a close eye on bird flu because they fear the Asian H5N1 strain could mutate and trigger a human flu pandemic.
Asia is considered the greatest threat, but the FAO expressed fear that Africa was poorly prepared to respond to an outbreak.
“One of our major concerns is now the potential spread of avian influenza through migratory birds to northern and eastern Africa,” Joseph Domenech, Chief Veterinary Officer at the Rome-based agency, said in a statement.
He expressed most concern about eastern Africa, where veterinary services may have greater problems in containing the virus. The more the virus there is circulating, the more opportunities there are for mutations that could create a global human epidemic capable of killing millions.
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