HANOI, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Laos has, for the first time, detected a duck contracting a bird flu virus since 2004, according to news reports which reached here Thursday.

    The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said the duck detected in a farm, 20 km off southern Vientiane capital, in February, was infected with a kind of bird flu virus, reported Laos' newspaper Vientiane Times.

    The duck has been sent to the World Organization for Animal Health in Paris for testing.

    Laos's government is calling relevant agencies for monitoring the disease in the country. Enditem