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Myanmar detects bird flu outbreak in eastern Shan state

Military-ruled Myanmar has detected a new outbreak of bird flu among chickens in the country's eastern Shan State, an official and state media said yesterday.

Authorities confirmed the outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus on Thursday after an unspecified number of chickens had died in Yankham village, 580km northeast of Yangon, the official said.

"We killed more than 1,000 chickens and so far found no case of human infection," said the official from the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department in Yangon.

The official New Light of Myanmar newspaper also confirmed the outbreak of bird flu and said measures had been taken to halt the spread of the virus.

On Dec. 15, Myanmar and the WHO announced that a seven-year-old girl from Shan State had become the first confirmed human case of bird flu in the country.

She was hospitalized late last month before being discharged this month after showing signs of recovery, health authorities said.

The official said the area of the latest bird flu outbreak was located around 60km southeast of the village where the girl was infected with the virus.

The authorities have killed more than 700,000 chickens, ducks and quail since Myanmar discovered its first outbreak of bird flu among poultry in the central city of Mandalay in February last year, officials said.

The country's military rulers normally operate under a thick veil of secrecy, but the regime has won rare plaudits from the UN for its openness in tackling bird flu.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed 213 people worldwide, mostly in Southeast Asia, since late 2003, the WHO said.

The strain is mainly an animal disease, but scientists fear it could mutate to easily jump from human to human, sparking a deadly global pandemic.
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