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Deadly bird flu expands in Africa, Europe
(AP)
Updated: 2006-03-13 20:50
The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed or forced the slaughter of tens of
millions of chickens and ducks across Asia since 2003, and recently spread to
Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Health officials fear H5N1 could evolve into
a virus that can be transmitted easily between people and become a global
pandemic.
That has not happened yet, but at least 97 people have died from the disease
worldwide, two-thirds of them in Indonesia and Vietnam, according to figures by
the World Health Organization.
There was no evidence of human infection in Myanmar, said Than Tun, director
of the country's livestock breeding and veterinary department, a division of the
Agriculture Ministry.
"We are taking all measures to control the situation," he told The Associated
Press, pledging that authorities would deal with the outbreak in a "transparent
manner."
Than Tun said the remaining chickens in the flock of nearly 800 were
immediately slaughtered, and that experts were inspecting farms within a
two-mile radius of the farm where the infected birds were found.
The cases were detected at four farms north of Mandalay, the country's second
largest city, said Jum Conix, a WHO spokesman in Myanmar.
Myanmar's military government 锟斤拷 which generally restricts the free flow of
information and exercises tight control over the mostly state-owned mass media 锟斤拷
had previously said it would deal openly with any outbreaks of bird flu.
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