Ukrainian Scientists State That H5N1 Flu Strain May not be Dangerous

Samples of poultry in Crimea tested positive for the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus, RIA Novosti reported. It has been proved that this strain is very pathogenic to birds. Meanwhile, the people in contact with the infected birds have not caught the disease. Spokesman at the Ukrainian Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology, Nataliya Skultetskaya said that poultry farms should be put under quarantine and poultry in the affected areas should be culled, which had already been done. The fact that there are no human cases of bird flu shows that either the measures against the epidemic are efficient, or the H5N1 strain might not be dangerous for people, Skultetskaya added.

Source: FOCUS