Duck Deaths in Myanmar (Burma)
Recombinomics Commentary
February 8, 2005
>> A total of 6,700 ducks in a village in Myanmar have died of blood poisoning, the local Myanmar Times reported in its latest issue.
The death of these ducks at Katoke-Phayagi village in Daik-U township of Bago division late last month was due mainly to failure to vaccinate the birds against septicemia, the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department was quoted as saying
The authorities confirmed that Myanmar continued to remain free of bird flu, saying that the country has little potential to be affected, partly because chickens were kept in a condition not as crowded as in other countries.
Since the outbreak of bird-flu was reported in neighboring countries in January last year, Myanmar has checked about 8.5 million chickens at nearly 8,000 poultry farms across the country as part of its measures to
prevent the possible outbreak of bird-flu.
There are 63 million chickens in Myanmar, of which 50 million are bred outdoor in rural areas, official statistics show <<
The bacterial infections in the ducks would not exclude a primary infection of H5N1 and testing of these birds for avian influenza would be useful. The site is close to Thailand, where H5N1 infections have been widespread and surveillance has identified infections in wild birds. The site is also close to Tsunami hit regions.
Since H5N1 infections in ducks are frequently asymptomatic, test results on the affected and vaccinated flocks would be useful.
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