MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) said that starting from Monday it would suspend imports of live poultry and hatching eggs from several regions in a number of EU countries over the threat of avian flu.
The countries affected by the ban include Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Bulgaria, France, Poland and Sweden.
The agricultural agency also banned the transit of live poultry from the regions in question through the territory of Russia.
According to the World Health Organization, an infectious disease of birds may either go unnoticed or rapidly develop into a fatal disease. The infection does not normally affect humans, but there have been rare cases of severe respiratory disease in people and there is concern that the virus might mutate to become easily transmissible between humans.
