The findings show that the spread of these infectious diseases, if left unchecked, could pose a serious health threat to other Southeast Asian nations and the world. Health professionals believe international cooperation and policies are needed to restore humanitarian assistance to the Burmese people, but warn that new government legislation imposed by the military junta are making those efforts increasingly difficult.
Chris Beyrer, MD, MPH, director of the Bloomberg School's Center for Public Health and Human Rights, says, "There is a growing humanitarian crisis in Burma. In our report, we document how the ruling government's policies have restricted nearly all aid and allowed serious infectious diseases to spread unchecked."
He continues, "With the global spread of bird flu, there is a fear that if a human form of H5N1 were to take hold in Burma, it could potentially spread unchecked for weeks or months before anyone knew about it. Uncontrolled spread of any disease, especially an emerging disease like H5N1, poses a serious health threat to Burma's populous neighbors, like China and India, as well as the rest of the world."
Burma reported its first cases of bird flu among poultry to the World Health Organization on March 8, 2006. However, researchers say the ruling junta censored reports of the outbreak to its own public until March 17 - by which time the outbreak killed 10,000 more birds and 41,000 needed to be destroyed to prevent further outbreaks.
