2,600 birds found dead in China

Wednesday, October 19, 2005 BEIJING — Some 2,600 birds have been found dead of bird flu (search) in northern China's grasslands, the government said Wednesday. In Brussels, a European Union (search) official said there is a suspicion of bird flu in Macedonia (search). The disease has already affected birds in at least two other European countries; Romania and Greece. In Russia, hundreds of birds have died suddenly in a region south of Moscow, local media reported on Wednesday, raising fears of a new outbreak of bird flu there. If confirmed, the discovery in the Tula region, about 125 miles south of Moscow, would mark the first time that the deadly virus has appeared in European Russia, west of the Ural Mountains. The dead birds in China were found in a breeding facility in Tengjiaying, a village near Hohhot, the capital of the Inner Mongolia region, the official Xinhua news agency reported. They were infected by the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus, Xinhua said. It did not give any further details. "The epidemic is under control," Xinhua said. European Union officials said they were preparing to extend a ban on imports of pet birds and feathers from Siberia because of the bird flu. EU spokesman Philip Tod also said the EU executive would send experts to Greece to help identify bird the bird flu strain there. Health officials said they will also hold a simulation exercise of a flu pandemic by end of year to improve preparedness. Thanks to foxnews.com for this story.