About 100 domestic birds have died in Russia's Altai Territory in the second wave of bird flu, and the bird death number continues rising in the area, the Itar-Tass news agency reported on Friday.

Sixty-five chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys died in eight yards in the town of Pokrovka in this region and all the 5,000 domestic birds there will be killed as the bird death number continues rising, a source in the Emergencies Ministry's regional department was quoted as saying.

Special teams have carried out the measures to prevent the infection from spreading -- to kill birds, disinfect poultry yards,vaccinate villagers against the flu and monitor the state of health of people.

Veterinary, sanitary and other special measures have also been taken in the district center of Novichikha, where 32 birds have died over four days. Specialists suspected it was bird flu.

According to the territorial service for consumer rights and sanitary control, poultry farms, where 2,800,000 chickens, geese and ducks are kept, continue working, but with all the measures taken to prevent the infection from penetrating there.

All the 3,500 farm workers are vaccinated. There are no people ill with bird flu in the territory, the service said.

Bird flu has been confirmed in Russia's Tula, Tambov, Chelyabinsk and Omsk regions and Altai territory. More than 3,200 domestic birds have died of avian flu or have been slaughtered in those areas, according to the Interfax news agency.

Valery Mikheyev, the Novosibirsk region's chief epidemiologist,warned on Friday that avian flu, which has killed thousands of birds in West Siberia this year, may become endemic in this area because of a natural factor behind the disease. "Whether we want it or not, birds will continue to migrate to our area," he said.

Mikheyev noted that the most important task at present is to monitor the circulation of the flu virus before and during outbreaks.

However, Russia's Agriculture Minister Alexei Gorgeyev said Friday that the bird flu problem in the country will peter out in two weeks.

Gordeyev, speaking to reporters in the Chuvash republic on Friday, said that the problem will persist for international organization, science research and for those countries where birdsof passage had flown for wintering.

The minister said that as of now Russia has six settlements where bird flu was confirmed. Fifty-five settlements remain suspected of being infected with the virus which is deadly for poultry.