Russia told the EU on Wednesday it had found the deadly strain of avian flu in birds in a region south of Moscow, marking the steady westwards march of a virus scientists fear could trigger a pandemic, Reuters reported. The European Commission said Russia had identified the H5N1 bird flu strain about 200 kms (124 miles) south of Moscow in the Tula region, next to a lake with numerous wild ducks. The deadly H5N1 strain -- which has killed more than 60 people in Asia since 2003 and forced the slaughter of thousands of birds -- has also been discovered in Turkey and Romania. As European countries geared up their response, Britain said it planned to buy enough vaccine to protect the entire population in case the virus mutates into a strain capable of killing millions of people. And Germany said it would confine all live poultry to their pens to prevent them from coming into contact with migrating birds, believed by some to be carrying the virus from Asia. Russia had already said it had bird flu in Siberia and eastern Russia. But Wednesday's announcement marked the first time the virus had spread west of the Ural mountains, which separate Asian from European Russia. The Russian agriculture ministry said 220 domestic fowl died of the disease last week in the village of Yandovka. Authorities imposed a quarantine and ordered the culling of 3,000 poultry.
