Posted on 08/24/2005 10:59:17 AM PDT by Termite_Commander
MOSCOW, August 24 (RIA Novosti) - Bird flu has been confirmed in a total of 45 villages, Russia's Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision said in a press release Wednesday.
"Bird flu has been confirmed in 45 settlements, while the situation in another 75 remains unclear as of August 24," the service said.
Lab tests confirmed the virus had hit poultry flocks in eight villages in the Altai region, in the south of West Siberia on the Kazakh border. The disease could hit another four settlements.
The virus, which could have been brought into Russia by migrating birds resting on Siberian lakes, was contracted by poultry flocks in seven villages and by wild birds on seven lakes in the Tyumen region, also in West Siberia. Birds in six villages were slaughtered.
Poultry flocks in six villages and birds on four lakes in the Omsk region, West Siberia were also infected. Birds in another 18 villages could also have the virus.
The disease was also detected in the Kurgan region in West Siberia, where poultry in six villages were infected. Fourteen more villages could have also been exposed to the virus.
Bird flu spread to the Chelyabinsk region in the South Urals, where flocks in three villages were infected and a quarantine was imposed.
Bird flu cases were registered in 15 villages in the Novosibirsk region in West Siberia, but the service warned that the disease could spread to another 37 villages. All poultry flocks were slaughtered in 11 villages.
The service did not give figures for Kalmykia, a Russian republic on the northwestern shore of the Caspian Sea, where bird flu cases have also been reported.
China's iron fist prevented adequate response and health measures, and their coverup aggravated the situation.
All-in-all, I'm sure the Chinese were hoping to get a grip on the bird flu quietly, and then use it as a biological weapon.
Pinging the list.
Sounds the 'stans could be in some trouble soon.
" ... WHO really doesn't have a handle on this situation."
Friend, *nobody* could be expected to have a handle on this one. Kind of like West Nile Virus in one respect: you can't stop migrating birds that are carrying a disease to previously uninfected areas.
I don't think anybody has.
So far, it has only made the occaisional jump of bird to human. We'd best hope it doesn't make the jump and then morph human-to-human. This virus is extremely deadly and could be mankind's worst nightmare.
Most disease experts say it is only a matter of time.
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