Bird flu in Myanmar's two divisions has been under control with poultry death being stopped and no infection on human beings and other animals being found so far, reported New Light of Myanmar on Saturday.

To ensure normal flow of local chickens and poultry farming products and regular consumption and trading, arrangements are being made to distribute such products to customers with the endorsement of local Departments of Livestock Breeding and Veterinary, the state-owned newspaper said.

In its latest measures to contain the avian influenza, the local authorities have culled a total of 37,220 chickens and 39, 058 quails and 50,515 quail eggs in 120 poultry farms in Sagaing and Mandalay divisions since Wednesday, the report quoted the latest figures released by the authorities as saying.

The authorities had culled 13,970 chickens and 77,018 quails and quail eggs in three townships in the Sagaing division and four townships in the Mandalay division as of March 16 since the outbreak of bird flu late last month which killed a total of 5,628 chickens and 4,482 quails.

The three townships in Sagaing division are Shwebo, Kanbalu and Khin U, while the four in Mandalay division are Pyigyidagun, Chanmyathazi, Chanayethazan and Amarapura.

To control the disease, the authorities have placed the townships in the two divisions under restricted zones, banning movement of poultry, temporarily closing down fowl markets. Other preventive measures are being undertaken.

According to the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department of Myanmar, suspected avian influenza virus of H5N1 was mainly found in poultry farms in Khin U township in northwestern Sagaing division and Pyigyidagun township in adjacent Mandalay division in the first half of this month.

Meanwhile, the Bangkok laboratory confirmed that the current bird flu in the country is H5N1 after samples of the dead chickens were tested.

Myanmar is cooperating with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the control of the disease.

According to the FAO resident representative, the organization has preliminarily provided 45,000 U.S. dollars worth of equipment to Myanmar for use in the measures, including 100 sets of protection equipment, 500 liters of disinfectant, 50 sets of sprayers and two containers for shipping samples.

Source: Xinhua