LOME, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Burkina Faso has detected three casesof deadly H5N1 bird flu virus on a farm near its capital Ouagadougou, Burkinese Ministry of Animal Resources announced late Monday.

    Test in the Italian lab of the World Animal Health Organization(OIE) confirmed the presence of highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of the flu virus on three samples collected on a farm in Gampela, a suburb of Ouagadougou, said Tiemoko Konate, the Burkinese minister of animal resources.

    According to Konate, a total of 65 samples had been collected across the country.

    The Burkinese government has put the affected farm under quarantine and had all the poultry there culled, said the minister, noting that the public had been asked to report any suspected cases.

    With the confirmation of the three cases, Burkina Faso becomes the fifth African country hit by H5N1 bird flu after Nigeria, Niger, Egypt and Cameroon. Enditem