Government adds measures, warnings to combat bird flu
by Thein Linn and Khin Hninn Phyu

• The Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department ( LBVD) is planning to issue animal health certificates to livestock breeders and traders giving them permission to sell their products in states and divisions that have not been hit by suspected cases of bird flu.
• The department imposed measures to prevent and control bird flu following the suspicious deaths of chicken and quail in the Shwebo district of Sagaing Division and Mandalay district of Mandalay Division form early February to March.
• During that period, 6731 fowl died from disease in the Sagaing division towns of Shwebo, Kin U , Kanbalu and Ye U, while 24836 were culled and buried.
• In the Mandalay district towns of Pyigyidagun, Amarapura, Chanmyathazi, Chanayethazan, Maha Aungmye and Aungmyethazan, 2060 fowl died and a further 96159 were destroyed.
• Myanmar Livestock Federation secretary Dr Zaw Win Myat said all fowl were culled from farms in a one-kilometre radius around farms where positive samples were found.
  Sales of farms animals form within a three-kilometre radius of infected farms were banned, and transport of animals from within a seven-kilometre radius was also restricted, he said.
• Meanwhile, the ministries of Health, and Livestock and Fisheries have cautioned commercial and small-scale poultry farmers, as well as the public, to remain alert for bird flu throughout Myanmar following suspected outbreaks last month.
• Farmers should keep their birds in enclosures and away from contact with wild birds, adding that owners of farms along migratory bird routes should be especially alert for outbreaks of the disease.
• Poultry Farms should _ wear face masks and protective clothing, kept clean areas around farms , entry banned from outsiders and other animals.
• U Thet Zaw Naing , Secretary of Myanmar Bird and Nature Society said the selling of wild birds among the public should be temporarily banned by the government. And the public should avoid releasing birds ( such as sparrows and pigeons ) * Most Buddhist in Myanmar believe that they can gain merit by releasing and feeding birds on pagoda.
• The most effective prevention was to completely avoid handling, eating, shooting, selling or farming wild birds , he said.