- Title: RUSSIA: POULTRY FARM DESTROYED AS FIGHT AGAINST BIRD FLU CONTINUES.
- Date: 18th August 2005
- Summary: (BN13) MAMONTOVO VILLAGE, RUSSIA (AUGUST 17, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV: MEN IN PROTECTIVE SUITS APPROACHING A FIRE; POULTRY FARM ABLAZE; MAN POURING GASOLINE IN CANISTER; MAN POURING GASOLINE ON RUINS OF THE FARM; MEN IN PROTECTIVE SUITS AROUND FIRE; WOMAN SPRAYING DISINFECTANT ON TWO MEMBERS OF THE SANITARY TEAM (8 SHOTS) 0.56 2. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) MEMBER OF A SANITARY TEAM WEARING FACE MASK, SAYING: "Because of the epidemics we have destroyed 9000 birds here. Dead birds were brought here and there was a big mound of them, then they were sprayed with gasoline and set on fire. It was burning for two days and the cremation only ended today at lunchtime." 1.29 3. GV/LV: WILD BIRDS IN LAKE OUTSIDE MAMONTOVO VILLAGE (2 SHOTS) 1.37 4. GV: SIGN READING "QUARANTINE" AT POLICE CHECKPOINT 1.39 5. GV/CU/PAN/GV: CAR STOPPING AT CHECKPOINT; VIEW OF MAMONTOVO VILLAGE AND QUARANTINE SIGN; CAR DRIVING THROUGH A DISINFECTION PIT (3 SHOTS) 1.59 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 2nd September 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: MAMONTOVO, ALTAI REGION, RUSSIA
- Country: Russia
- Reuters ID: LVAXTPDN6HC1W5M8F3CQ2PF5NOC
- Story Text: Mass bird deaths spread to parts of Russia.
Russian emergency and sanitary teams are fighting
to contain a bird flu outbreak. The first case of was
registered in Siberia in mid-July and later in neighbouring
Kazakhstan and Mongolia.
Sanitary teams have destroyed 9000 birds and burnt a
poultry farm in Mamontovo village in the Altai region of
Siberia. The village was put in quarantine and disinfection
pits were created on the roads leading to it. Police
checked all the cars going in and out of Mamontovo to make
sure no birds or poultry products were taken out.
But the desperate efforts to stop the outbreak have so
far failed.
Russia is investigating mass bird deaths in a region to
the west of the Ural mountains in what could become the
first case of the deadly bird flu virus spreading to
Europe, officials said on Wednesday (Aug 17).
But Russia's chief animal health official said a
preliminary analysis had shown the deaths in Kalmykia may
not have been caused by the dangerous virus that can also
kill humans.
The Russian state health watchdog, in a statement
posted on its Web site, said the bird deaths occurred on a
farm in the Caspian region of Kalmykia - 2,000 km (1,200
miles) from the region where Russia's first flu outbreak
was reported.
There was no final word on what had caused the Kalmyk
deaths but Sergei Dankvert, chief animal and plant safety
officer, said the birds may have died from an infection
caused by parasitic worms.
"The result of a preliminary analysis has not confirmed
the existence of bird flu in the village of Manych ... in
the republic," he told Itar-Tass news agency.
Kalmykia is 1,800 km south of Moscow and is the only
Buddhist region in Europe. Russia is one of the world's
biggest poultry importers.
The Agriculture Ministry said in a statement health and
emergency officials had culled 113,000 birds in all
affected regions -- from Novosibirsk to Kurgan -- to stop
the disease from spreading. Officials fear migrating birds could
export the virus
to Western Europe, Africa and the Middle East over coming months.
The H5N1 subtype of bird flu, confirmed in Kazakhstan
and a number of Siberian regions, has killed more than 50
people in Asia since 2003.
In Kazakhstan, the Emergencies Ministry said the death
of more than 120 birds in a northern village was due to
avian influenza, the sixth location in the country where a
bird flu outbreak has been recorded.
The prospect of it spreading has prompted warnings that
the virus might mutate in humans and unleash a global
influenza pandemic that could kill millions.
EL/GP
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