Sunday Auggust 25, 2007 -- Dead birds found at a poultry farm in southern Germany have tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu and some 160,000 birds were being culled on Saturday as a precaution to prevent spread of the disease, authorities said.

The bird flu virus was found in ducklings at the farm near Erlangen in northern Bavaria.   A federal laboratory confirmed that they died of the highly virulent H5N1 variant, said the state consumer protection ministry on Saturday.

Over a short period, more than 400 birds had died from bird flu at the farm, said Sandra Brandt, spokeswoman for the ministry of the state consumer protection.

The virus was found last year in birds in Germany. At the beginning of August this year, the virus showed up in dead ducks in Bavaria.   More than 50 wild birds have also died from the H5N1 virus since early August in different regions in Germany.

The H5N1 virus has affected millions of domestic birds worldwide and killed more than 190 people since 2003 when the virus first re-merged from Hong Kong, according to the World Health Organization.

Germany is not the only country where the virus has been detected.   Other European countries including Slovenia, Italy, Bulgaria and Greece have reported the presence of bird flu virus.

Bird flu is primarily a disease of birds and the H5N1 virus does not infect humans as easily.  But experts and government officials worldwide fear it could mutate into a form that is less pathogenic, but highly infectious, potentially sparking a worldwide pandemic.