No humans have been infected in a bird flu outbreak in Russia and the situation remained stable, Reuters quoted the country's consumers rights watchdog as saying on Monday. The highly potent H5N1 strain, confirmed in the Siberian region of Novosibirsk, has swept parts of Asia and killed more than 50 people since 2003. Outbreaks in Russia and, later, in neighbouring Kazakhstan have been reported since mid-July. "As of August 7, 2005, the epidemic situation ... remains stable... There have been no infections and no one was suspected of having been infected," the watchdog, part of the Russian Health Ministry, said in a statement. Russia is a major poultry meat importer. The European Union has decided to ban imports of chickens and other products from Russia and Kazakhstan, although in practice there is no trade in poultry between the two countries and the EU. In a further sign of stabilisation, Itar-Tass news agency quoted Novosibirsk administration officials as saying mass deaths among farm birds largely stopped on Monday in the worst-affected, quarantined areas of the Novosibirsk region. Mass poultry deaths in Novosibirsk have been registered since July 10, according to media reports. Some health officials fear the virus that has swept through Asia could mutate into a lethal strain that could rival or exceed the Spanish flu pandemic that killed up to 40 million people across the globe at the end of World War One. The number of Russian regions hit by the avian flu rose to five at the end of last week. There was no word on the situation in Central Asia's Kazakhstan, where bird flu had broken out in areas neighbouring Russia's Siberia. The Russian Emergencies Ministry said in a note issued on Monday that a total of 5,573 domestic and wild birds had been affected in the Novosibirsk, Omsk and Tyumen regions. --more 1357 Local Time 1057 GMT
