Bird flu has spread west to the Ural mountain region of Chelyabinsk, officials said yesterday, making this the sixth region in Russia to be affected by the disease, which is potentially dangerous to humans.
Sixty chickens died over the weekend in the village of Oktyabrskoye, the region's first deputy governor, Andrei Gasilov, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.
Russia's veterinary service confirmed the outbreak, but it was not yet known whether the strain of the virus in question was of the type that can be transmitted to humans.
Chelyabinsk is the sixth region affected. The others are further east in Siberia. But only in Altai, Novosibirsk and Omsk has the type of avian flu been confirmed as being H5N1, which is deadly to humans.
So far 10,896 wild and domestic birds have died from the illness, the emergency situations ministry told RIA Novosti news agency yesterday.
"Currently there have been no cases of sickness among the human population," the ministry said.
Russia began mass poultry culls in the affected areas from July 10.
Authorities have also imposed controls on movement of poultry and poultry products. Elsewhere in the country some poultry farmers have set up patrols to shoot wild birds approaching their facilities.
Last week, the European Commission, called on member states to ban imports of feathers and live birds from both Russia and Kazakhstan, which has also registered a bird flu outbreak on a farm close to the Russian border.
The former Soviet republics of Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have banned poultry imports from Russia and Kazakhstan, while Ukraine partially lifted its ban last week.
Health experts have said the westward spread of bird flu to Russia was predictable following outbreaks in neighboring areas of western China.
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