Large quantities of poultry were killed by the bird flu virus type AH5 in
the city of Novosibirsk, the chief spokesman for Russia´s Emergencies
Ministry said Thursday [21 Jul 2005].

Viktor Beltsov, a spokesman for the Emergencies Ministry, said bird flu had
been detected in poultry in a village in Siberia´s Novosibirsk region.
"Numerous birds have died...and an investigation showed the presence of the
AH5-type bird flu virus," Beltsov said.

But Sergei Dankvert, chief animal and plant safety officer, told Reuters
that the death of the birds could have been caused by other factors. "We
cannot say now if something out of the ordinary has occured. The reason
behind the accident could be bad water, feed poisoning, Newcastle disease
or bird flu. More investigation is needed," Dankvert said.

As many as 200 geese and 100 chickens were killed by the virus in the
village of Suzdalka near Novosibirsk, a source in the ministry told the
Gazeta.ru news website. Veterinarian inspectors and health officials were
summoned to the site to investigate the incident, the report said.

Russia does not produce enough poultry for domestic needs and imports over
a million tonnes of poultry meat annually, mainly from the United States,
the European Union and Brazil, Reuters writes.

Beltsov was not able to give any further details on the AH5 virus. The H5N1
strain of avian influenza has killed at least 50 people in Asia since 2003.

MOSCOW, July 22 (Xinhuanet) -- The bird flu virus that has killed hundreds of birds in the Siberian region of Novosibirsk is not dangerous to humans, a medical expert said Friday.

    The bird flu virus that has killed birds in Novosibirsk is type H5N2, which "is considerably less pathogenic to poultry than H5N1,which is found in Southeast Asia, and is absolutely harmless to humans," Alexander Shestopalov, an official at the Vektor State Research Center told the Interfax news agency.

    The virus came from the Mediterranean and was probably brought to Novosibirsk by migrating birds, Shestopalov said.

    The virus was found in all of the six dead birds provided for tests, he said.

    The Emergency Situations Ministry said Thursday the bird flu virus has been detected in the village of Suzdalka in Novosibirsk after more than 200 geese and 100 chickens died in recent days.

Jul 25, 2005 (CIDRAP News) – A Russian official has identified the avian influenza virus that has been killing poultry in Siberia as H5N2, a strain that is not dangerous to humans.

But another Russian official reported to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) yesterday that the virus had not yet been fully identified. The poultry outbreaks in the Novosibirsk region of southwestern Siberia were first reported last week.

Alexander Shestopalov, an official at the State Scientific Center for Virology and Biotechnology, identified the virus as H5N2, according to a Jul 22 report by Interfax, a Russian news agency.

"This virus is considerably less pathogenic for poultry than H5N1, which is found in Southeast Asia, and is absolutely harmless to humans," Shestopalov was quoted as saying.

But in a report to the OIE yesterday, Dr. Evgueny A. Nepoklonov, head of the Main Veterinary Department at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food in Moscow, said the N, or neuraminidase, number of the virus had not yet been determined. He confirmed that the virus had been "preliminarily" identified as an H5.

Nepoklonov´s report, published on the OIE Web site, said outbreaks of avian flu were reported in nine villages in the Novosibirsk region.

He didn´t mention how many birds had died, but said the mortality rate was low, from 1% to 2.6%. He told the OIE last week that more than 350 birds had died.

"An epidemiological analysis has shown that the disease started in a flock in contact with wild waterfowl at open water reservoirs," Nepoklonov´s report says. "This is proposed as the primary source of the virus. In addition, there is evidence of the disease in wild birds." He also said no outbreaks had occurred at commercial poultry farms.

Shestopalov said the virus came from the Mediterranean region and probably was brought to Novosibirsk by migrating birds, according to the Interfax report.

H5N2 viruses have not been known as harmful to humans. Mexico had a series of outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N2 in poultry from 1995 to 2003 without any human cases. A small outbreak of the virus occurred at a farm near San Antonio, Tex., in February 2004, with no human cases.

More than 100 people have been infected with H5N1 viruses and more than 50 have died in Southeast Asia since late 2003.

See also:

Nepoklonov report to OIE
http://www.oie.int/Messages/050725RUS.htm

CIDRAP overview "Avian influenza: Agricultural and wildlife considerations"