#13,382
While the Kursk/Oryol Oblast office of Rosselkhoznadzor hasn't posted anything official - hardly a surprise on a weekend - multiple Russian language media reports overnight indicate that Oryol Oblast is the 5th Russian federated state to report avian flu over the past two weeks.
Kursk Oblast, to the south and west of Oryol, reported the first outbreak on June 14th , which was followed by outbreaks in Samara & Penza on the 20th, and then Saratov Oblast Veterinary Authority Announced Avian Flu Outbreaks on Friday.These recent outbreaks are the first to be reported by Russia since December 2017, and have only been reported as HPAI H5. Based on past outbreaks, H5N8 is the top contender, but in late 2017 Russia reported HPAI H5N2, and H5N6 has been reported both to the west and east of Russia.
Typical of the reports published overnight is this (translated) report from the Oryol Evening Eagle, online newspaper.
In the Oryol region registered the first case of "bird flu"
Andrei Cherkasov
June 23, 2018
In the town of Livny, Oryol region on private farms registered case of the so-called "avian influenza" (HPAI subtype H5).Other media accounts can be viewed here and here.
This is the first case of avian influenza in the territory of the Oryol region, the regional administration.
In connection with the worsening situation for avian influenza June 23, on Saturday, held an extraordinary meeting of the Commission to ensure that the epizootic well-being of the Oryol region of especially dangerous and quarantine diseases of animals.
On the eve of a decree signed by the governor of the Oryol region on the introduction of quarantine for avian influenza in certain areas of the region.
The boundaries of the epizootic outbreak threatened area within a radius of 5 km and a surveillance zone of a radius of 10 km from the border of a troubled village. Approved an action plan to eliminate and prevent the spread of avian influenza.
Veterinary Services carried out the necessary decontamination measures in the center of occurrence of the virus. The birds in the backyard destroyed the premises where they were held, and the area around them disinfected.
As assured in the regional government, the situation on avian influenza is under special control of the regional administration and personally Acting Governor Andrew Klychkov.
While we don't know the specifics of these outbreaks, increased avian flu activity during the summer in Russia has previously been linked to seeing subsequent outbreaks in Europe later in the year (see FAO/EMPRES: H5N8 Clade 2.3.4.4 Detected Over Summer In Russia).Hopefully we'll get more information in the days ahead on the exact subtype of avian flu, and a better sense of how it is being spread (i.e. by birds, or movement of poultry, poultry products, personnel or equipment between farms, etc.) across multiple regions of Western Russia these past couple of weeks.
Stay tuned.
