Myanmar outbreak spreads, more chickens culled

YANGON, Mar 15 (Reuters) Thousands of chickens have been slaughtered on five more farms in central Myanmar after hundreds of birds died of bird flu-like symptoms, the UN food agency said today.

The five farms are in the same area in Mandalay Division, 430 miles north of Yangon, where the country's first outbreak of the H5N1 virus was found on two farms on March 8.

Initial tests had found the presence of the virus but further tests were needed, Tang Zhengping, the country representative for the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), told Reuters.

He said samples had been sent to a laboratory in Bangkok and the results were expected in 2 or 3 days.

''Seven-hundred chickens have now died of suspected bird flu on seven farms in Mandalay and 5,000 chickens from these farms were destroyed to help contain the disease,'' Tang said, referring to the total number of farms affected since last week.

Myanmar health authorities say there is no evidence of human infections from the H5N1 virus, which has killed about 100 people in Asia and the wasia since late 2003.

Myanmar has appealed for international help and the first shipment of emergency gear from the FAO arrived today.

''It includes 100 sets of personal protection equipment, 500 litres of disinfectant, 50 sets of sprayers and two containers for shipping samples,'' Tang said.

He said an FAO adviser was due to visit Mandalay on Thursday to assess Myanmar's needs to contain the outbreak. An expert from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) was also being sent to the former Burma.

''With support from international agencies and the international community I think they can contain the situation,'' Tang said.

Myanmar reported the first 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. However, many people have heard the news from Myanmar-language reports on foreign radio stations.

REUTERS SHR RN2034