From Houston Chronicle
By Mike Eckel

Russian officials traced dead poultry in several suburban Moscow districts to a single market today as experts reported new outbreaks and tightened quarantines following confirmation of the presence of the H5N1 bird flu strain.

The presence of H5N1, confirmed by tests late Saturday, was the first such outbreak to be recorded so close to the Russian capital.

Authorities traced the birds that died in four separate incidences to a market located just outside the Moscow city limits, said Alexei Alexeyenko, spokesman for the federal agricultural oversight agency Rosselkhoznadzor.

The market was closed Saturday and experts were trying to determine the original source for the birds on sale there, he said.

On Saturday, Alexeyenko said tests had confirmed the H5N1 strain in some of the two dozen birds found dead in two suburban Moscow districts. Results of tests taken in a third district where nearly four dozen birds died were still pending, he said.

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