The Philippines suffered its first case of bird flu after ducks were found to be infected in a town north of Manila, local TV quoted Health Secretary Francisco Duque as saying on Friday.

Duque said bird flu was detected at a duck farm in the town of Calumepit, in Bulacang province north of Manila.

"I can assure you there's no indication it's the H5N1," said Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, who resigned last week to face charges of tax evasion but has stayed on until his successor is in place.

"There's no cause for alarm, even the ducks are not sick." Duque said in a television interview. "We're still investigating the case."

Samples have been sent to Australia to determine whether the detected strain of avian influenza (bird flu) was the same as that which has killed dozens of people elsewhere in Asia, Duque said.

A quarantine zone has been set up around the town of Calumpit, in order to halt the trading and sale of poultry for a week, Duque said.

The H5N1 strain of the avian influenza virus has killed 54 people of 154 infected in Asia so far. More than 140 million chickens have been killed in the region to halt bird flu, causing millions of dollars of losses.

Source: Xinhua