Health authorities in South Korea have placed under quarantine a soldier who developed high fever while culling chickens and ducks to contain an outbreak of bird flu in the country.

The Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention found the 22-year-old corporal to be infected with an H5 strain of the deadly avian influenza virus on Sunday, when he suffered high fever, a symptom of bird flu, according to the JoongAng Daily. He will remain under quarantine until further laboratory tests confirm whether or not the virus is the deadly H5N1 strain

The World Bank Group has approved a US$6 million grant to help Cambodia carry out its national plan to counter threats from avian and human influenza, and to strengthen its health system to respond to any possible outbreak in the future.

The grant, provided by the International Development Association (IDA), will be used to finance the Avian and Human Influenza Control and Preparedness Emergency Project (AHICPEP), a World Bank (WB) press statement said

Ducks, rice and people - and not chickens - have emerged as the most significant factors in the spread of avian influenza in Thailand and Vietnam, according to a new study by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

"Mapping H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza risk in Southeast Asia: ducks, rice and people" also finds that these factors are probably behind persistent outbreaks in other countries such as Cambodia and Laos

Despite major efforts to control the avian influenza in Indonesia, the country worst hit by the virus, the situation there remains "grave," the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned on Tuesday. The bird flu has become "deeply entrenched" in Indonesia, effecting 31 out of 33 provinces according to United Nations estimates.

The virus is endemic in Java, Sumatra, Bali and southern Sulawesi with sporadic outbreaks reported from other areas. In February, five people living in the west of Java, Indonesia's most populous island, died after contracting the H5N1 virus, responsible for outbreaks of bird flu around the world in recent years

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has commended efforts of the Indian government to stop the spread of the deadly avian influenza in the province of West Bengal. The FAO said authorities were able to control the spread of the H5N1 strain with their swift and comprehensive measures.

In a statement, U.N. FAO veterinary expert Mohinder Oberoi said: "Intensive culling in the predominantly backyard poultry sector appears to have stopped the disease in its tracks." He said this after a recent visit to the affected areas, where no new outbreaks have emanated since Feb. 2