Myanmar has first bird flu outbreak in a year

YANGON, Mar 1 (Reuters) Myanmar has suffered its first outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus in a year, but there was no immediate evidence of human infections, a senior official said today.

Fowl on four farms on the northern outskirts of Yangon, three of them small family farms, had tested positive for the virus, Than Hla of the Ministry of Livestock Breeding&Fisheries told Reuters.

The outbreak on the largest of the farms prompted the culling of all 1,500 chickens and ducks on it, he said.

''The owner of the farm informed us immediately and we carried out necessary tests. The results of the laboratory tests showed it was H5N1. Arrangements are under way to have the specimen tested at the reference laboratories abroad,'' Than Hla said.

''It is in a residential area and we are taking all possible measures to control the situation and to monitor the spread,'' he said, adding that so far there had been no trace of the virus spreading to humans.

Later today he said the virus had also been found on three small family farms in the same area and all 300 fowl on them had been culled.

The infection probably came from migrating birds, a common suspect in bird flu outbreaks, Than Hla said.

It was the former Burma's first outbreak of the feared disease since March last year and the military-ruled country has not reported any human cases.

Public health experts fear it could mutate into a form that people catch easily from one another, possibly sparking a pandemic.

REUTERS AD KP1722