YANGON, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- A high-ranking Myanmar health official has stressed the urgent need for drawing plan and introducing fresh measures for effective prevention of human infection of bird flu in the country in the wake of first such infection being reported in the country recently, according to Sunday's state media.

    "Priority is to be given to the prevention of bird flu virus strain as mortality rate is much higher than that caused by SARS," warned Deputy Health Minister Dr. Mya Oo when he coordinated with senior health officials in the new capital of Nay Pyi Taw Saturday on the matter dealing with prevention of current human bird flu infection in the country's border area, said the New Light of Myanmar.

    He urged the departments concerned to take effective measures in the fight against the pandemic, drawing lessons from the past when SARS broke out.

    He reiterated that the recent child infection of bird flu in the border area of Kengtung in eastern Shan state has been under control with the virus strain being unable to infect others, thanks to the effective fight against the pandemic.

    He called for implementing the prevention work in cooperation with the public as a national concern.

    Human infection of bird flu was first officially made known to the public on Saturday after a bird-flu-infected girl had been discharged from a local hospital in Kengtung Wednesday after treatment.

    The 7-year old girl, Ma Nan Kham Tha, was found infected with bird flu virus among four suspected of carrying the virus during the outbreak last month in Kengtung's Naungngin village and she was kept in quarantine and given a dosage of timiflu pills at the People's Hospital in Kengtung since Nov. 27 until her discharge on Dec. 12.

    Specimens of the four suspected were first sent to a lab in Yangon which confirmed on Nov. 26 the girl's infection. The human samples of the four were also sent to a lab in Bangkok as well as a lab of the World Health Organization in Tokyo and those laboratory tests further confirmed the status, the earlier report said.

    According to the report, the Myanmar health authorities monitored altogether 689 close contact persons who involved in culling chickens and live near the farms and suspected that four of them were infected with the virus.

    The report added that other persons were not so found after monitoring the close contact persons for 10 days.

    H5N1 virus was detected on some chickens and ducks of local species which died unusually at the village farm in Kengtung on Nov. 18.

    In its prevention and control measures, the local authorities culled 14,889 chickens, ducks, geese and Muscovy ducks within a week after such unusual deaths were found on the fowls traded in the area.

    Other measures taken included disinfection of the farm and restriction of transport of chicken especially the entry of poultry and birds from neighboring countries into Myanmar.