Greece said it found bird flu in a wild duck shot by a hunter, adding that more tests were underway to establish whether the virus was the strain that can kill humans.

The H5 virus, most of whose sub-types are only lethal to birds, was confirmed in the migratory duck killed in a coastal area of the central prefecture of Fthiotida, the agriculture ministry said in a statement.

Samples from the bird will be sent to the EU Reference Laboratory for avian influenza in England to determine whether the virus is in fact H5N1, the highly pathogenic strain that has killed 152 people in the Far East, the Middle East and China since 2003.

The relevant EU authorities have also been informed, the ministry said.

This is the first H5 case reported in Greece since the summer.

Earlier this year, the Greek authorities confirmed 33 cases of H5N1 between February and March, all in wild birds.

Yet even though no domestic poultry cases turned up, demand for chicken in the country took a serious blow for weeks.

Local authorities in Fthiotida have been advised to ban the transport of live poultry near the area where the duck was hunted.

Poultry owners have been warned to keep their flocks indoors, and the public advised to alert the authorities to all bird carcass finds, the ministry said.