Bird flu gear rushed to Myanmar after first outbreak

YANGON, Mar 14 (Reuters) International agencies are rushing protection suits and testing kits to Myanmar as the secretive country battles its first outbreak of deadly bird flu, officials said today.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) agreed to send 40,000 dollar worth of equipment to help the former Burma contain the outbreak on a farm in the central Mandalay region.

''The situation is under control. The FAO and other agencies are helping us,'' Than Daing, deputy director general of the Livestock Breeding&Veterinary Department, told Reuters.

Officials culled hundreds of birds and restricted poultry movements after the H5N1 virus emerged on March 8 on a farm in the Kywesekan ward of Mandalay, 430 miles (700 km) north of Yangon.

Farms in nearby areas are also being monitored for the disease, the cause of which was still unclear, according to Yangon's report to international agencies yesterday.

''The cause of the disease may be due to migratory birds that fly across the country or illegal importation of hatching eggs and day-old chicks,'' the report said.

Myanmar's junta had long insisted the country was bird-flu free despite the presence of the disease in neighbouring China, Laos and Thailand. The virus has killed 98 people, mostly in Asia, since late 2003.

Dr. Tang Zhengping, the FAO representative in Yangon, said his agency was providing personal protection equipment, testing kits and other gear to help fight the outbreak. ''As for technical expertise, one FAO technical officer has arrived from Bangkok to help them and more are arriving here soon,'' he told Reuters.

Samples were sent to a reference laboratory in Bangkok earlier today to confirm Myanmar's findings, he said.

Myanmar reported the outbreak to international health agencies swiftly, health experts say, keeping a pledge it made in December to tell the world if it found bird flu.

But there has been no mention of the country's first bird flu outbreak in the state-controlled media.

The military-ruled country is seen by some international health experts as a potential black hole in the global fight against the disease.

Experts feared the virus would go unreported -- either through lack of surveillance or a government cover-up -- long enough to mutate into a form that passes more easily between humans and trigger a pandemic that could kill millions.

Years of mismanagement have crippled the economy and, despite a relatively large number of foreign-trained doctors, there is a dire lack of infrastructure in a country where military spending far outstrips that on health care.

While millions of aid dollars flow into Laos and Cambodia to fight bird flu, raising funds for Myanmar has proved harder due to allegations of human rights abuses and the detention of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

Zhengping praised Yangon's timely reporting of the outbreak and its cooperation with international agencies.

''They informed us officially and took all the necessary measures to control the situation. Therefore, not only the FAO but also other agencies can assist them now,'' he said.

REUTERS