Russian chief sanitary inspector: Bird flu poses threat to 50 million Russians

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In case of bird flu pandemic in Russia about 45-50 million people will be infected by it. According to Russian Chief Sanitary Inspector Gennady Onishchenko, about 6 million people in case of pandemic will suffer from the illness in its severe form; 1 million of them will need hospitalization. “We will need 170,000 doctors for it,” Onishchenko is quoted as saying.

The most probable scenario, believes the chief inspector, will be evolution of the pandemic in spring-summer time. “All the pandemics of the last millennium started exactly at that period,” reminded Onishchenko.

Onishchenko called distressing prediction for 2006, reports newsru.com. “Actually, the whole our southern border will be more or less affected by epizootic demonstrations,” he noted stressing that far not all the regions have established agencies to fight bird flu and elaborated complex action plans.

The chief sanitary inspector also pointed out that since the end of 2003 bird flu among humans has been registered in 51 countries. Overall, 190 cases of the illness were registered, 107 of them resulting in a lethal outcome.