Europe Bans Russia Birds After Flu Cases

by Kester Kenn Klomegah

(IPS) MOSCOW -- The Russian government says it is taking extensive measures to contain the spread of bird flu after the European Union banned poultry imports from several Russian regions.

"Russia is not exporting poultry to the European Union," agriculture minister Alexey Gordeyev told Rossiya television. "Prohibiting Russian poultry exports to Europe would be equivalent to imposing a ban on citizens' flights to the moon."

The bird flu threat to Russia should not be exaggerated, Gordeyev said. "There is no point in dramatizing the situation. It is obvious that the development of bird flu in Russia has been contained," he told reporters later.

Representatives of European Union veterinary services have voted to ban poultry imports from the central and eastern regions of Russia where cases of bird flu were found. The ban may be enforced for up to six months.

Up to 140,000 birds have died or been slaughtered as a result of the avian flu outbreak in Russia's Siberia and Volga-Urals districts, and another 127,000 have been slaughtered in the Tyumen, Chelyabinsk and Omsk regions to stop the outbreak, the government Press Service says.

"Laboratory examinations of selected blood samples from dead birds confirmed the presence of the AH5 bird flu virus that is not dangerous to humans," the Press Service said. "Most birds contracted avian flu from migrating wild birds from Southeast Asia."

The flu is affecting wild and domesticated birds in seven Russian regions covering 45 districts, but no human cases of the disease have been registered, says Rospotrebnadzor, the government consumer rights watchdog.

But the number of areas where the bird flu virus has been confirmed has steadily risen this week. The Federal Veterinary Control Service reported a new outbreak of bird flu in Chelyabinsk region.

"We have recognized the existence and outbreak of the bird flu but the best approach is increased surveillance, identify any new cases and immediately deal with them," Russia's chief public health official, Gennady Onishchenko, told IPS.

"This alert must be maintained," he said. "Excessive alertness is better than utter indifference."

About 145 medical experts are working to stop spread of the disease. Some fear that avian flu may spread across the European part of Russia by next spring. The density of the population and of farms is 10 times higher in this region than in Siberia and the Far East.

Ways to counter the spread of avian flu must be on the agenda of the G8 summit to be held in St. Petersburg next year, says director of the Russian Academy of Sciences Oleg Kiselyov. "All eight countries will search for solutions to this problem," he said. The G8 comprises the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia.

A new bird flu vaccine for humans is due to be tested soon, and production will begin in March when birds traditionally migrate.