MOSCOW, March 6 (RIA Novosti) - The Agriculture Ministry said Monday that bird flu has now been registered in eight Russian regions, all in the southern part of the country, a major stopover area for migrating birds.
The ministry said that, according to data gathered by its agriculture watchdog, cases of bird flu had been registered in the republics of Kabardino-Balkaria, Dagestan, Chechnya, Kalmykia, Adygea, North Ossetia-Alania, and in the Krasnodarsk and Stavropol Territories.
Outbreaks among domestic birds have occurred in five areas: the Krasnodarsk and Stavropol Territories, Dagestan, Adygea, and Kalmikia.
Earlier on Monday, the Emergency Situations Ministry announced a suspected outbreak of bird flu in the Astrakhan Region, also in southern Russia.
No cases of humans contracting bird flu have yet been reported in the country.
The ministry said previously that about half a million birds died of bird flu during February in southern Russia.
"The third wave of the disease swept the country starting February 3 and is still ongoing," a ministry spokesman said. "About 500,000 birds have died from a virus that lab research identified as bird flu since the pandemic broke out, and more than 215,000 birds have been culled."
Over 1.3 million birds have died or been slaughtered in three outbreaks of bird flu since July 2005, or over 44,000 every day, the ministry said. This includes more than 416,000 birds, or about 17,500 every day, that died from the virus.
