Malaysia reports new bird-flu cases in Perak state

KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 21 (Reuters) Malaysia reported two more cases of bird flu today after testing chickens in areas near the sites of previous outbreaks in central Perak state.

Six chickens tested positive for the H5N1 virus, which can be deadly if transmitted to humans, after veterinary officials made a sweep around areas where initial outbreaks of bird flu in Perak had been detected last week, state news agency Bernama said.

So far, bird flu has been found in a wild bird and poultry in central Selangor and Perak states and in the northern state of Penang, not far from the tourist island of the same name.

Malaysia has so far reported no cases of human infection.

Tens of thousands of poultry and hundreds of birds at a Perak aviary have been culled since the first outbreak of bird flu in more than a year was detected among dead chickens in a village in Selangor state, just outside the capital, last month.

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