Monday, April 10, 2006
100 bird flu outbreaks in Burma
Bird flu has spread in Burma with more than 100 outbreaks across the country, a UN official has said.
He Changchui of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) told a press conference the situation was “more serious than we imagined”.
He said the outbreaks were mainly in the central district of Mandalay and the northern district of Sagaing.
On 13 March Burma confirmed its first case of H5N1 since November 2004 and the number subsequently rose to five.
Mr He, who is the FAO’s Asia-Pacific representative, was speaking after two teams from the agency visited Burma to assess the situation.
He said it had not been easy to find accurate information.
“The issue there is that awareness is rather poor,” he said. “The information is not that comprehensive.”
He said Burma lacked scientific equipment and facilities to deal with the outbreaks and would need international assistance.