Myanmar authorities have culled an undisclosed number of chickens at a village farm in the eastern Shan state following detection of a bird flu case in the area, officials said Saturday.
Authorities have sprayed disinfectants and restricted transport of chickens from the farm following the unusual deaths of birds in Kengtung village Nov 18, officials of the Livestock and Veterinary Department said in a statement.The authorities have urged people not to bring birds from neighbouring countries into Myanmar. Poultry farms in the country's, Yangon, Thanbyuzayat, and Bago divisions witnessed an outbreak of the HPA1 and H5N1 viruses this October.
Last year, during the first outbreak of bird flu in Mandalay and Sagaing divisions, nearly 342,000 chickens, 320,000 quails, 180,000 eggs and 1.3 tonnes of cattle-feed were destroyed in 545 poultry farms.
This year, the first case of bird flu was detected in February in Yangon division. The virus affected nearly 2,000 fowls and some 65,812 poultry from the affected farms in Mayangon, Hlaingtharya, north Okkalapa, Mingaladon and Hmawby townships were culled.
Besides Myanmar government, experts from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation and US Agency for International Development (USAID) have been working to stop the spread of the disease in the country.
According to officials, so far no human cases with bird flu virus have been detected in Yangon.
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LIN/P
