Russia Earmarks $43 Million To Fight Bird Flu

A Russian woman cautiously holds one of her roosters (file photo) (AFP) 2 February 2006 -- Russia's Health Minister Mikhail Zurabov today said the Russian government has earmarked more than $43 million to combat bird flu.
Zurabov said some $12 million would be used to identify cases of bird flu, and diagnose the disease in Russia and elsewhere in the Commonwealth of Independent States, CIS.


No cases of the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus have been found in humans in Russia, but the disease has been detected in fowl since the middle of 2005 and hundreds of thousands of birds have been culled.


(AFP)

Affected Areas

Affected Areas


Click on the map for a closer view of the areas within RFE/RL's broadcast region where cases of diseased fowl have been confirmed. Last updated on February 20.

BIRD FLU, or avian influenza, continues to menace scattered areas from East Asia, where the disease first appeared, to Southeastern and Eastern Europe and beyond. Authorities around the world are bracing themselves -- and, more importantly, planning and taking measures to fight the disease wherever it appears.

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