It was just a matter of time. The H5N1 strain of avian flu has been marching inexorably west. I read a news article today that confirms it has finally crossed the Urals. However, as lethal as it is to birds, there haven't been any human fatalities reported in Russia.
More below.
Avian flu crosses Russian Urals, affects seventh region
The avian flu virus has crossed Russia's Ural mountains and affected a seventh region of the country as it spreads west from Asia, the federal service for protesting consumers' rights said.
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"In the republic of Kalmukia the death of wild birds and (domestic) fowl has been recorded," the service said Friday in a message that was posted on its website.
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The outbreak of the disease in Kalmukia, a southern republic of the Russian Federation bordering the Caspian Sea, is the first to hit European Russia.
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Meanwhile the agriculture ministry announced that more than 70,000 domestic birds had so far been slaughtered in the Novosibirsk region of Siberia, where the disease was first noted.
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Carried by migrating birds, the virus spread to Chelyabinsk, Altai, Omsk, Tiyumen and Kurgan before reaching Kalmukia.
WHO spokesman Dick Thompson is quoted saying, "What we're concerned about is that the virus is in proximity to humans and what we've seen is that occasionally and even rarely, when humans have come in contact with this virus, they've become infected."
If I understand what Mr. Thompson is saying this current version of avian flu has a hard time leaping from birds to humans. Despite the hundreds of thousands of birds that have died or been slaughtered since this strain first appeared in 2003, only about 60 people have died. The majority of fatalities have been in Vietnam.
However, it would just take a couple of mutations for H5N1 to turn into a real life version of "Captain Trips."