A bird flu outbreak in Russia's Siberian regions may be spreading, but no humans have been infected so far, officials and Russian media said 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.
In a sign the outbreak had yet to be contained, news agenices reported the virus may have spread to two more districts of the Kurgan region in western Siberia where bird flu was confirmed in wildfowl last week.
"Dead bird samples from these areas have been taken away for checks," Interfax news agency quoted a regional agriculture official as saying.
But Russia's consumer rights watchdog said the situation was under control. "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 Health Ministry, said in a statement.
Some health officials fear the virus that has swept through Asia.
Itar-Tass news agency quoted Novosibirsk officials as saying mass deaths among farm birds largely stopped on Monday in the worst-affected, quarantined areas of the Novosibirsk region.