Agriculture Watchdog: Bird Flu Identified in Russia Not Dangerous To Humans

CEP20050822027100 Moscow ITAR-TASS in English 1121 GMT 22 Aug 05

MOSCOW, August 22 (Itar-Tass) -- The H5N1 bird flu virus identified in a
number of regions of Siberia and in the Urals poses no risk to humans, the
deputy chief of Russia's agricultural watchdog, Yevgeny Nepoklonov has told the
media.

At the same time he remarked that under certain circumstances the virus can
mutate in the human body.

"However, at this point we can say with certainty that the identified virus
is not dangerous to humans," he said.

So far bird flu cases have affected private households.

"No cases of the disease have been registered at any of the country's large
poultry farms so far," Nepoklonov said.

He warned that in case of an outbreak of the disease at any large farm all
poultry would be destroyed.