January 28, 2004

Myanmar Denies Bird Flu Outbreak In Country

A government official Wednesday denied a report by an American medical center that bird flu has spread to Myanmar.

"I can assure you there is no bird flu case in Myanmar as of now," said Dr. Tin Aye Kyi, deputy director of the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department.

The Atlanta-based U.S. Centers for Disease Control has included Myanmar, also known as Burma, on its list of countries where the avian flu has been detected.

Many Asian countries, including three of Myanmar's four neighbors, have found the disease in poultry populations. These are Laos, Thailand and China.

The official said an outbreak was unlikely in Myanmar because of stringent precautionary measures, and because the country's import of chicks and eggs was small. He said Myanmar had banned such imports from neighboring Thailand, where the flu is on a rampage, since Jan. 7.

Reports in government-controlled newspapers Tuesday said the country had 62 million chickens, of which 83% were locally bred.

Myanmar's secretive military-government has long downplayed the spread of AIDS in their country, which international health officials say has reached dangerous levels.