The Philippines has suffered its first case of bird flu in poultry, with the departments of health and agriculture to announce details at 9 a.m. (0100 GMT) on Friday, an official said.

"They will announce the first case of bird flu in poultry," a media officer at the Department of Health told Reuters.

*report from Xinhua news agency says this is not a case of HPAI(H5N1). specimens will be sent to Australia for further tests.*

Avian influenza in the Philippines

Report date: 8 July 2005.

In a routine testing done on samples collected from a small farm in Calumpit, Bulacan province, a low pathogenic H5 avian influenza virus was detected in ducks using haemagglutination inhibition and PCR.

Samples are being sent to the OIE Reference Laboratory for avian influenza in Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Geelong, Victoria for confirmation of the specific strain involved.

All ducks in the farm are apparently healthy with no mortalities and all the native chickens in the same farm have tested negative.

Tests show Philippines still free of bird flu

The Philippine authorities said Monday that the Philippines is still free from bird flu as test results in a duck farm near Manila have turned out to be negative.

    Confirmatory tests on blood samples from ducks in a backyard farm in Bulacan north of Manila that were initially reported as infected by a low-risk flu strain have turned out to be negative for the virus causing the deadly avian influenza, the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) said.

    BAI Director Jose Molina said that the results of confirmatory tests from the Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) showed that there was "no active infection" in the ducks as no virus was found among the samples.

    "From the test results, we can conclude the following: there isno H5N1 nor any HPAI in the areas," said BAI in a memorandum to local officials.

    H5N1 is one of the strains of avian influenza virus and HPAI isa highly pathogenic avian influenza.