KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Malaysia has detected a new outbreak of bird flu in a village in the northeastern state of Kelantan, veterinary officials announced.
The H5 strain of avian flu was detected in three free-range chickens six kilometres (3.7 miles) from the first village where the deadly H5N1 strain -- responsible for 28 human deaths in Asia this year -- was discovered last month, the veterinary department said.
"Culling of all poultry within one kilometre of the infected area would begin immediately. The situation remains under control," Hawari Hussein, director-general of the Veterinary Department, said in a statement.
The entire state has been placed under quarantine with a blanket ban on poultry movements in and out of the state, after the bird flu virus was found to have jumped outside the 10-kilometre quarantine zone around the first village hit by the disease.
Kelantan breeds about 2.8 million chickens and ducks and Hawari said 5,119 of the birds have so far been culled after the H5N1 strain was detected.
Officials say the disease was first brought into Malaysia by fighting cocks that had been exposed to the virus in Thailand and the new outbreaks were caused by the continued smuggling of chicken meat.
Senior Malaysian health officers said they hoped to meet their Thai counterparts next week to seek a deeper commitment to combat the spread of the virus, including strengthening border security.
Thailand has been criticised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for not doing enough to monitor birds capable of carrying the deadly avian flu virus following the kingdom's ninth human death last week.
The WHO fears that the H5N1 virus could mutate into a highly contagious form that triggers a global human flu pandemic.