Villages sealed off - Moscow

[bidy]

From The Times

February 20, 2007

 

Villages sealed off as bird flu reaches outskirts of capital

 

Tony Halpin in Moscow

 

 

Thousands of Russians were undergoing tests last night after an outbreak of bird flu at chicken farms on the outskirts of Moscow.

 

Health officials confirmed that chickens at two farms within 30 miles (49km) of the capital had died from the H5N1 strain of the virus. Dead birds suspected of being contaminated were also being tested at three other locations near Moscow.

 

“Medical monitoring is under way for 5,453 residents in the relevant areas, including 20 citizens who were in direct contact with the infected birds,” said Gennady Onishchenko, Russia’s chief epidemiologist. No illnesses had been reported among human beings so far, he said.

 

This is the first time that bird flu has been detected so close to Moscow, which is home to more than ten million people. Officials established quarantine zones around villages in affected areas and began bird vaccination programmes. Veterinary officials have established that the bird flu virus came from chickens bought at a Moscow bird market. More than 150 birds have died at private farms around the city in the past ten days.

 

“From the very beginning we have been taking safety measures, assuming that it was this strain, so the confirmation does not change anything,” said Nikolai Vlasov, director of veterinary inspection for Russia’s state agricultural agency.

 

The virus was found previously in 2005 in poultry plants in the Krasnodar region of Russia, 625 miles south of Moscow.

 

Sergei Yeremin, director of the World Health Organisation’s bird flu programme in Russia, said that this experience had left the country “highly prepared” for the present outbreak.

 

“There have been no cases of human infection in Russia, though it is located in a migratory zone for wild birds. This is one of the signs that Russia is ready,” he said.

 

“What worries us more is the source of the infected birds, how they wound up at the market.”

 

The Moscow regional prosecutor said that it had begun a criminal inquiry to establish “the source of the illness and the guilty parties who violated veterinary rules”.

 

Russia’s Interior Ministry ordered measures to prevent any possible spread of the infection. Police visited every house in the affected districts to seek information about possible sick birds, while road traffic inspectors were checking all poultry vehicles.

 

Valery Sitnikov, Moscow’s chief veterinarian, said that he was confident that the spread of the virus had been contained. “The incubation period of the disease is one to two days, which means that if there had been a massive die-off of hens elsewhere, we would have learnt about it,” he said.

 

Estonia responded to the outbreak by banning the sale of birds in markets. Azerbaijan also banned imports of poultry from farms around Moscow.

 

— 167 deaths among the 273 people infected by the virus since 2003

 

Source: Times archives

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/worl...icle1409204.ece

[Belle]

The birds have begun heading north here. It is beginning...

 

Prepare. I was going to say, "Get all your ducks in a row", but that would have been a bit insensitive.

 

Seriously, once it hit England, I knew it would start to spread faster, due to population density, not to mention the season.

 

This is, indeed, very scary news!

[westbrook]

Military Preparing for Martial Law

 

Martial Law Is Coming

[Sunnyboysx3]

I feel a tension headache coming on.

[Mother]

Yes, migration season is starting. We saw a huge flock of Canada geese in our area just last week and though they may have been a local flock that stayed the winter, I doubt it from their numbers and it is that time of year though just a bit early. One good thing is that birds are now migrating from south to north and not coming from a known zone of infection, at least not that has been said. Very few birds cross over in the southern hemisphere of the world to carry infectiong but that's not to say they won't or that they won't be BROUGHT there by humans.

 

My real fear centers on the fall, especially now that Russia is having another outbreak. If I were to guess when we'd see it here, I'd say about late fall this year. Alaska and Canada will probably see it first, then most likely the upper western and eastern US with mid US coming in right soon there after. From there it's all down hill, so to speak.

 

You know, we have a small field pond in front of the house and it was always a joy to set on the porch and watch the two or three pairs of Canada geese fly in each spring and fall, flustering our own domestic ones. It was funny to watch ours honk at the "intruders" and flap their wings in bravado as the wild ones seemed to pay them no mind. Now it's not so funny any more and I dread seeing them fly in:( Already, life as we know it has started to change.