Avian Influenza Virus Found in Ukraine

Read this and pray for the missionaries in Ukraine.

"On December 3, 2005, the Government of Ukraine announced that the H5 avian influenza virus was found in domestic poultry in three administrative regions of eastern Crimea: Sovetskiy, Nizhnogyrsky and Dzhankoysky. Ukrainian authorities are culling poultry and have imposed quarantines on five villages of the affected regions: Nekrasyvka, Ryasne, Pushkino, Zapovyt-Lenynske and Omelyanyvka. Further tests will show whether the birds carried the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus. No human cases have been reported.

American citizens are advised to avoid those areas identified by the Ukrainian government as being affected by avian influenza. The Ukrainian government has prohibited movement of people into and out of a three kilometer radius around each affected village. As a precautionary measure, several volunteers of the U.S. Peace Corps are being temporarily withdrawn from the affected area."