The Zambian government is looking into cases of bird death in the southern tourist capital Livingstone for fear of an outbreak of avian flu, which has already hit eight African countries, said a senior health official Tuesday.

"We are investigating the matter but so far there has been no confirmation of an outbreak," Health Ministry permanent secretary Simon Miti said.

Livingstone's chief veterinary officer Jack Shoko said in a statement that experts are carrying out tests on the dead birds discovered over the past two days.

"Samples were sent to Lusaka for testing. We are still awaiting results of the laboratory test on the dead birds," Shoko said.

More than 40 wild birds were found dead in Livingstone near the famous Victoria Falls shared by Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Health authorities in the region have appealed to local people who ate the dead wild birds to report to health center for medical examinations.

The eight African countries where bird flu was found are Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Djibouti, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Niger, Nigeria and Sudan. Human cases have been reported in Djibouti and Egypt.

Zambia, though spared of the disease so far, banned poultry imports in March this year.

Source: Xinhua