DHAKA - BANGLADESHI authorities said on Tuesday a new outbreak of bird flu had been detected at a village in the north of the country as they struggled to contain the disease.

Livestock department spokesman Salahuddin Khan said at least 100 birds were slaughtered on a farm in the northern Kurigram district late on Monday after the deadly H5N1 strain of avian influenza was discovered.

'This is the fifth district to have been hit by bird flu since it re-emerged in October after a break of four months,' Mr Khan said, adding the government had stepped up surveillance.

Bangladesh was hit by bird flu in February 2007, and the virus made another comeback in January. Earlier this year, 50 of the country's 64 districts were affected, and more than a million birds were slaughtered.

Industry officials said that that outbreak led to closure of 40 percent of the nation's poultry farms and left half a million workers jobless.

Bangladesh's poultry industry is one of the world's largest, producing 220 million chickens and 37 million ducks annually.

The country reported its first confirmed human case of bird flu in May, but the government said the 16-month-old baby who contracted the virus had recovered. -- AFP