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As is common, the early reports we are getting regarding the bird flu outbreak near Moscow are inconsistent. Yesterday, it was widely reported several farm workers were ill, and hospitalized.
Today, officials are denying that report.
Moscow Reg bird flu under control, no ill people
17.02.2007, 13.29
MOSCOW, February 17 (Itar-Tass) -- The bird flu situation in the region around Moscow causes no serious concern. There are no ill people, Russian chief sanitary inspector Gennady Onishchenko said on Saturday.
All the people are healthy, and medical and veterinary services' reaction is adequate, he said in a live news broadcast on Russian Television Channel One.
The situation is not alarming at present, Onishchenko said, noting that no more outbreaks were reported.
The Veterinary and Phytosanitary Control Service's spokesman Alexei Alexeyenko noted that the outbreaks at two private poultry yards were not large. The outbreaks are prevented from spreading, all the appropriate measures are taken, quarantine is imposed and disinfection is conducted, he said.
Yesterday, it was also announced that results would be known today (Saturday) as to the type of bird flu virus, but that determination has now been delayed, according to the latest report from Reuters.
Russia's animal and plant health watchdog, Rosselkhoznadzor, expected results by Sunday evening from tests on dead birds found in two villages near Moscow, said Nikolai Vlasov, the agency's head of veterinary surveillance.
"We are now carrying out tests to determine the nature of the bird flu virus. We don't yet know what type it is and will find out no earlier than Sunday evening," Vlasov told Reuters.
People who had been in contact with the dead birds were taken to hospital as a precautionary measure, but showed no signs of any illness, he said.
Obviously, it is impossible to know with any certainty exactly what is really happening on the ground in Russia. While the media isn't as tightly controlled as it once was, the government still maintains a firm grasp on what may, or may not be publicly released.
I'm sure we will be informed by the Russian government of whatever they want us to hear, when they want us to hear it.
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