BEIJING (Reuters) - China's latest outbreak in poultry ofthe H5N1 strain of bird flu, in the far western region ofXinjiang, has been brought under control, state media reported.

Authorities in Turpan city culled more than 35,000 birdsand no human cases had been reported, the official Xinhua newsagency said in a late night report seen on Tuesday.

The first bird flu outbreak in the country since Septembercame about a month after the virus killed a 24-year-old man inthe eastern province of Jiangsu. Xinhua cited an unnamedofficial as blaming a warmer winter for bringing in moremigratory birds to the area near Turpan, and so "increasing thechances of bird flu outbreaks."

"The wild birds ought to have flown south, but stayed nearthe city because of the warm weather this winter," it quotedthe official as saying. "This has added to infection risks andmade the control of the disease more difficult."

With the world's biggest poultry population and hundreds ofmillions of farmers raising birds in their backyards, China isseen as crucial in the global fight against bird flu.

The Agriculture Ministry has warned of a "very high"possibility of bird flu outbreaks in the country over thewinter and spring, when the virus is at its most contagious.

A man surnamed Lu died of the H5N1 strain in Jiangsu --where no poultry outbreak had been reported at the time -- onDecember 2, raising Chinese human fatalities from the virus to17 and infections to 27.

Lu's 52-year-old father was also infected and onlyrecovered after three weeks of treatment.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Nick Macfie)