FAO: Bird flu recurs in Myanmar

Bird flu has recurred in Myanmar with the outbreak of H5N1 in a poultry farm in the city of Yangon, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Yangon Office Thursday.

It was detected and confirmed by the Myanmar livestock authorities and the information about the outbreak of bird flu in the northwestern suburban township of Mayangon was sent to the FAO Yangon Office Wednesday evening.

According to Tang Zhenping, representative of the FAO Yangon Office, the Myanmar authorities concerned have taken measures to slaughter more than 1,300 chickens including hatched chickens, and declared the farm as restricted area and sterilization of the area.

The FAO and other international organizations are expected to further confirm the Myanmar report with regard to the fresh outbreak of H5N1 through examination by international authoritative institutions.

The recurrence of the deadly influenza came nearly six months after Myanmar declared itself bird-flu-free in the country last September after making sure that no virus had been present in the country during a three-month program on detection of avian influenza carried out with the cooperation of foreign experts.

Myanmar was first struck by an outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in March 2006 in two divisions of Mandalay and Sagaing and since then altogether 342,000 chickens, 320,000 quails and 180,000 eggs as well as 1.3 tons of feedstuff were destroyed at 545 poultry farms.

So far, there have been no human cases detected with H5N1 in the country.

2007-03-01