Burma has reported an outbreak of bird flu among chickens in the country's eastern Shan state.

The official "New Light of Myanmar" newspaper said Saturday that authorities confirmed the outbreak of the deadly H5N1 virus on Thursday, after an unspecified number of chickens had died in Yankham village.

Officials said they determined that the virus was spread to the area from Kengtung Township, where bird flu broke out in December 18.

Burma and the World Health Organization had earlier confirmed the country's first human bird flu case, when a seven-year-old girl was hospitalized in late November. The girl survived the disease and was discharged in early December.

Seven countries in East Asia have reported human cases of the potentially deadly virus. The two with the greatest number of cases are Indonesia and Vietnam.

More than 200 people in 13 countries have died from the disease since 2003.