A boy takes a duck to a market in Yangon. (AFP)

Bangkok, March 13 (Reuters): Myanmar has reported what is believed to be the secretive country’s first case of bird flu, while Afghanistan was checking today to see if it is the latest country to be infected by the deadly disease.

Military-ruled Myanmar is seen by some international health experts as a potential black hole in the global fight against the disease but a UN official in Yangon said authorities were cooperating. Another UN official in Bangkok said there were no signs of human infections from bird flu.

“They have carried out some tests and they believe that they have identified H5N1,” Laurence Gleeson, of the UN Food and Agriculture organisation in Bangkok, said.

The case emerged on March 8 after 112 chickens died on a farm near Mandalay, about 700 km north of Yangon.

Officials destroyed a flock of 780 birds and sent samples for testing at government laboratories in Mandalay and Yangon.