Russia: No Human H5N1 infection says State

MOSCOW, February 21 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow Region health authorities
have dismissed rumors of a human avian flu case following the outbreak
of H5N1 in poultry farms in the region last week.

There had been Internet sources reporting on Tuesday that a resident
of Ramenskoye who owned poultry contaminated with the bird flu virus
had been hospitalized.

"He [the resident of the Ramenskoye district] has been admitted to the
infectious diseases ward at a local hospital, but his diagnosis is
rhinitis, or simply a common cold," a local health official said.

She said the illness had probably been caused by stress related to the
bird flu outbreak, and that lab tests did not show H5N1 virus
infection.

The Russian agricultural watchdog confirmed on Monday that last weeks
outbreak did involve the H5N1 strain of bird flu virus.

150 dead birds were found at private farms in the Domodedovo, the
Odintsovo, the Podolsk, the Naro-Fominsk, and the Taldom districts
last week, and another 75 were discovered in the Ramenskoye district
this week, but no cases of humans infected with the virus have been
registered so far.

In addition, the Russian veterinary watchdog reported on Wednesday
that 70 dead fowl had been found at poultry farms in the Republic of
Adygea, near to the southern Krasnodar Region, where the most recent
bird flu outbreak occurred in mid-January.

Russia recorded its first cases of avian flu in August 2005, but
previous outbreaks occurred only in southern provinces and in Siberia.