The Japanese Agriculture Ministry late Saturday confirmed samples sent from a Kyoto Prefecture farm, where 67,000 chickens have died over the past week, were infected with a highly contagious strain of avian flu.

A test by the National Institute of Animal Health in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, showed that it is the H5 strain of the virus, confirming preliminary tests conducted Friday by prefectural health authorities that had found the samples positive for the virus.

This marks the third location in Japan hit by bird flu after the first outbreak since 1925 was reported at a chicken farm in Yamaguchi Prefecture on Jan. 12. The second case was found at a household raising bantam chickens in Oita Prefecture.

A variant of H5 known as H5N1 has been found in Yamaguchi and Oita. In Vietnam, it had been blamed for the deaths of 15 people, and seven in Thailand.

The viruses in Yamaguchi and Oita were almost identical to H5N1,a highly contagious strain. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will examine whether the virus in Kyoto is H5N1.

(Xinhua News Agency February 29, 2004)