Myanmar is on alert against Asia’s deadly bird flu, officials said on Wednesday, denying a report of a possible outbreak of the virus in the military-ruled country.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) had asked Yangon to check a report on an opposition Web site that thousands of chickens had suddenly died in southern Myanmar last week, sparking local fears of a bird flu outbreak.

“In response to recent queries by the FAO, we have informed them that we have not found any trace of this disease in our country,” Dr. Than Tun, a director from the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department, told Reuters.

The avian influenza, which has killed 47 people in Asia, has ravaged poultry flocks in neighbouring Thailand and other countries in the region for more than a year. But no case has been confirmed in Myanmar.

The Norway-based opposition Democratic Voice of Burma (http://burmese.dvb.no/ ) reported on Sunday that thousands of chickens had suddenly died at Moulmein in Mon State last week and local residents feared it could be bird flu.

“There have been reports that the state authorities have been trying to cover up the news, making the people suspect that these chickens died from avian flu,” the Web site said.

Most of Myanmar’s 63 million chickens are raised in rural backyard farms, a traditional way of farming across much of Asia where chickens are allowed to wander freely, mixing with wild birds and other animals and spreading disease.

“If the bird flu came to Myanmar, it would be difficult to control because it could spread among the small farms,” Tang said.

However, he said Myanmar had a good veterinary service and the FAO was providing training, technical services and lab equipment worth about $350,000 to the southeast Asian nation.

A senior Health Ministry official said surveillance teams had been deployed in every township across the country.

“So far we haven’t found any trace of the spread of this disease to men or animals in our country,” Dr. Soe Lwin Nyein told Reuters.

“We also monitor outbreaks of this disease in neighbouring countries and take prompt action on any information we receive,” he added.