A Russian team of researches have invented a vaccine that effectively generates an immune resistance against avian flu at birds.

The scientists believe the world could potentially see a major, wide-scale outbreak of bird flu within the next couple of years. Developing a vaccine against such a pandemic strain of the virus would take about nine months, they said.

Russia could begin large-scale production of a vaccine to prevent bird flu by April, a senior official from the Russian Flu Research Center declared.

The Russian Ministry of Agriculture has been coordinating the production of 100 million doses of the vaccine for domestic fowl in Siberia, and regions of the Urals Federal District, which are close to stopover sites used by migrating birds

Kazakhstan has already announced it will buy 1 million doses of the Russian anti "bird flu" vaccine for poultry.

More than 700,000 Russian birds have died from bird flu or were culled in an effort to stop the virus. No cases in humans have been recorded, but concerns have grown that the virus could potentially spread through the south of the vast country.

Turkey has seen several bird flu cases in humans, prompting neighboring states to seek to tighten border controls.