| ■ Thousands Near Moscow Tested for Bird Flu | 07.02.26 |
| Nearly 5,000 suburban Moscow residents who may have come in contact with avian flu-infected birds are being tested for the disease, authorities said Tuesday. At least 190 domestic birds in the outskirts of the Russian capital have died since Feb. 10, the Associated Press reported. The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has been confirmed in four areas, and tests were being carried out on newly identified birds to see if they died from the same cause. Many of the dead birds have been traced to a southeast Moscow market. No human deaths in the area from bird flu have been reported, the wire service said. Moscow is home to more than 10 million people. Since 2003, the H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed at least 167 people worldwide, mostly in Asia. Most of the human victims had contact with infected fowl, but the virus remains difficult for people to catch. World health officials, however, worry that the virus could mutate into a form that's more easily passed between people, sparking a human pandemic |