Azerbaijan's Health Ministry said on Friday that the deadly H5N1 train of bird flu had been found in wild birds on the Caspian Sea coast, according to reports reaching Moscow from Baku.

The results from laboratory tests on samples sent to London from wild birds in the Caspian Sea coast showed the presence of the H5N1 bird flu virus, the ministry said in a statement.

Though no cases of human infection had been detected, the ministry appealed to people to avoid contact with foul and to isolate domestic poultry from wild birds.

Mass poultry deaths have been reported since last autumn in Azerbaijan, which shares a short border with eastern Turkey, where four children died after they were infected with the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.

Source: Xinhua