The bird flu disease which began to paralyze most of Asia last year has been detected in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia's Ural mountains.

A quarantine has been imposed in several villages in the Oktyabrsky district of Chelyabinsk - a rural district with hundreds of lakes.

Health officials fear that a subtype of bird flu dangerous to humans may mutate into a lethal strain that could rival or exceed the Spanish flu pandemic that killed millions at the end of World War I.

Russia has culled over 10,000 domestic birds in the last few days to stop the virus from spreading, according to the Emergencies Ministry.

So far there have been no human cases reported in Russia with the bird flu.