European Union experts opened talks in Brussels today on how to react to the outbreak of bird flu in Russia that has indicated a westward spread of the disease.
The EU already has a ban on imports of Russian poultry, and officials indicated today's meeting was unlikely see the bloc as a whole following The Netherlands in ordering poultry farmers to keep birds indoors.
Russia's farm minister said yesterday that bird flu, which has swept through part of Siberia, appeared to be under control, even as another region reportedly registered a new case.
The outbreak was detected in July in five regions of Siberia and one district in the Ural Mountains, the range that marks the frontier between European and Asian Russia.
It has killed about 11,000 birds and has prompted officials to slaughter 127,000 others in an attempt to halt the virus' spread. No human cases have been registered.
Migratory wild birds have been blamed for spreading the H5N1 flu strain in Russia, and officials there have warned the birds could carry the virus to Europe and North America next spring.
EU nations banned imports of live birds and feathers from Russia and Kazakhstan after the Siberian outbreak was detected.
The Netherlands has ordered commercial poultry farmers to bring their birds indoors to guard them against possible infection from the wild birds.
An outbreak there in 2003 infected 89 people, killed a veterinarian and forced farmers to destroy about 30 million chickens.
AP