HANOI, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Bird flu has killed some chickens in the central highlands province of Dac Nong in the last few days, Vietnam News Agency reported Sunday.

    Initial tests from specimens from the dead fowls in two flocks of nearly 200 chickens in Dac Mil district showed that they have been infected with bird flu viruses.

    Local veterinary agency has slaughtered all poultry of the two flocks to prevent the spread of the disease.

    However, the Department of Animal Health under the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has yet to announce bird flu outbreaks in Dac Nong, which has a poultry population of more than 600,000.

    Bird flu has hit 38 communes in 18 districts in the seven southern provinces of Ca Mau, Bac Lieu, Hau Giang, Kien Giang, Vinh Long, Soc Trang and Can Tho since early December 2006, the department said on Sunday. The southern Tra Vinh province has not detected new bird flu outbreaks in the past 21 days, meeting criteria for announcing an end to bird flu outbreaks in its territory.

    Bird flu outbreaks in Vietnam, starting in December 2003, have killed and led to the forced culling of dozens of millions of fowls in the country.