Sixty thousand birds have died or been slaughtered over the last few days in Russia's southern Rostov region, after bird flu hit a poultry farm. People are being vaccinated against the dangerous disease.
More than half-a-million chickens are to be destroyed to stop the spread of the H5N1 virus. Every vehicle is being prevented from moving out of the quarantine zone. No human cases of the disease have been reported so far. An outbreak in February 2007, which was traced to a bird market, left Moscow surrounded by the disease.