Five cases of the avian flu were registered last Saturday in various districts of the Moscow region and had been traced to a single market in southwest Moscow.
"The virus is the Asian type of the bird flu, which is dangerous for humans," said Alexei Alexeyenko, a spokesperson for the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision.
According to the World Health Organization, the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has claimed 167 human lives worldwide since it first appeared in Asia in 2003. It has since spread worldwide, and scientists fear the virus could mutate into a form transmissible between humans, sparking a global pandemic.
Russia recorded its first cases of avian flu in August 2005, but until now, outbreaks have occurred only in southern provinces and in Siberia. The most recent bird flu outbreak occurred in mid-January, in the southern region of Krasnodar, but it was contained by February.
