File image of poultry is seen in a cage in the Israeli village of Aviel January 3, 2008.

Iran reported two outbreaks of the highly contagious H5N8 bird flu virus at farms located in the Tehran region, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said on Monday, citing a report from the Iranian agriculture ministry.

The outbreaks killed some 5,600 birds out of a total of nearly 283,500 on the farms, the OIE said in a report posted on its website. All animals were killed or slaughtered.

“A post outbreak investigation to trace the source of infection is ongoing to detect the probable spread and circulation of this subtype,” the ministry said in the report.

The H5N8 virus has never been found in humans but has infected wild birds and farms in several European countries as well as in Israel over the past weeks.

[vuukle]