Flu virus found in US

A strain of bird flu has been discovered in chickens in a non-commercial flock in the US state of Delaware, but it is not the same deadly strain that is affecting humans in Asia, local newspapers reported late on Friday.

More than 12,000 chickens were quarantined and due to be destroyed after the bird flu strain, known as H7, was found at a farm in Delaware's southern Kent County, the Delaware State News reported on its Website.

Delaware Secretary of Agriculture Michael Scuse told the newspaper that the strain was not the same one that has struck humans in eight countries in Asia and posed no threat to human health.

The suspension covers quarantine inspection of US poultry and related products, South Korea's Agriculture Ministry said yesterday. In addition to the destruction of the 12,000 chickens in Delaware, all farms within two miles of the infected birds will be tested within the next week, Scuse said.

The authorities are also checking whether any of the birds from the infected flock were sold at auction out of state.