June 13, 2007

Myanmar reports new bird flu outbreak in private farm
 

Myanmar has detected the H5N1 bird flu virus among chickens on a private farm, an official said Wednesday, marking the country's first outbreak of the deadly virus since April.

Than Hla, an official at the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department, said the virus was detected in a small farm in Bago, 80 kilometres north of Yangon, early this month.

"28 chickens died at a private poultry farm in the outskirts of Bago starting Jun 3," said Than Hla, adding that laboratory tests confirmed on Jun 7 that some of the chickens were infected with H5N1.

Some 1,000 birds from the farm were killed as a precaution, he said. He did not specify the number of birds that tested positive for the disease.

The livestock department has also kept a close watch on the area, he said, adding that the outbreak remained under control because the farm was located away from other poultry farms and residential areas.

Myanmar had reported outbreaks of H5N1 bird flu in the outskirts of country's largest commercial city Yangon in February and April, and had slaughtered more than 60,000 chickens and other birds. Before those cases, Myanmar last reported a H5N1 outbreak among poultry in March 2006. It has reported no human H5N1 cases.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization said Myanmar has achieved substantial progress in the fight against bird flu though the country still needs more international support to fight the disease in the long run.

The disease has killed at least 190 people worldwide since it began ravaging Asian poultry farms in late 2003, according to the World Health Organization.