Troops To India-myanmar Border To Keep Out Flu

Troops sent to India-Myanmar border to keep out bird flu

IMPHAL, India : Hundreds of soldiers have been deployed along India's border with Myanmar to prevent the spread of a bird flu outbreak that has killed 12 people across Asia, officials said.

And while no cases of avian influenza have been reported in Myanmar, officials are worried some poultry could be smuggled through the country from neighbouring Thailand, which has been badly affected by the virus.

"Troops were deployed along the borders of the northeastern states of Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh neighbouring Myanmar to prevent smuggling of poultry into the region," a government spokesman said.

The four northeastern states share a 1,643-kilometre- (1,018-mile-) long unfenced border with Myanmar.

India has already banned all poultry imports in an effort to protect its billion-plus population from bird flu.

But an Indian intelligence official said it was "very difficult to completely seal the border" with Myanmar due to the rugged terrain. Smuggling from Myanmar of goods and livestock, including poultry, was rife, he said.

A government health official said authorities had not ruled out the chance of bird flu strains finding their way into the region "because some imported birds may have been bred in Thailand."

India's seven northeastern states share borders with Myanmar, China, Bhutan, and Bangladesh. Ten Asian countries, including China, have reported bird flu outbreaks, with Vietnam and Thailand officially the worst affected.

UN health authorities have warned millions of people could die if the H5N1 strain of bird flu becomes a deadly version transmittable between humans.

-- AFP 2004-02-03