Junta Bans News of Bird Flu Outbreak

The military government's censorship board in Burma has banned some media from publishing news about a new bird flu outbreak which was confirmed on October 20, according to a journalist who requested anonymity.

A journalist in Rangoon told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the junta’s Press Scrutiny and Registration Board censored a story reporting information about a confirmed H5N1 bird flu outbreak on a farm in Thanatpin Township in Pegu Division, about 80 km north of Rangoon. The story would have been distributed on Monday.

The latest H5N1 bird flu outbreak was reported to the OIE-World Organization for Animals on October 24 by the regime's Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department, according to the OIE Web site. The report was submitted by Maung Maung Nyunt, the director general of the LBVD.

The OIE Web site said tests by the Rangoon Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory confirmed on October 20 that the fowl died of the H5N1 virus.

The Burmese report sent to the OIE said the bird flu outbreak killed 400 chickens and ducks. The authorities reportedly killed 33,459 fowl to try to contain the virus.

A local resident contacted by The Irrawaddy said the owners of the fowl were not compensated.

In late July, there was a bird flu outbreak in Mon State in southern Burma. At that time, the H5N1 virus was found in two poultry farms in Thanpyuzayat Township.

According to the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department, more than 100,000 fowl have been destroyed in Burma since 2003 in an effort to contain the H5N1 virus.

Since the bird flu virus outbreak in 2003, there has been no reported case of a human contracting bird flu in Burma. In October, the World Heath Organization reported the virus has killed 201 people worldwide.