Migrating birds bring fear of avian flu

Migratory ducks and waders could bring bird flu to western Europe this northern winter, experts have warned, after the disease was found in wild flocks in Russia.

The potentially lethal avian flu virus is now spreading westwards after health experts in Siberia and Kazakhstan discovered outbreaks of the virus H5N1 in birds that will soon enter Europe.

Yesterday, as the total number of confirmed cases in Russia hit 40, authorities revealed the first suspected case of the virus at a commercial chicken farm in the western Siberian region of Omsk. A further 78 villages have suspected cases.