TOKYO, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- A poultry farm in southern Japan's Miyazaki Prefecture, which underwent an outbreak of bird flu and have all the birds on a farm incinerated earlier this month, may have suffered a new case of the disease, according to a local media report Tuesday.

    Preliminary tests showed that the nearly 600 birds which died at the farm in the city of Hyuga on Monday and Tuesday may have been infected with bird flu, Kyodo News said.

    If it is confirmed, the case will be the sixth in Japan since 2004.

    Earlier this month, 3,500 birds on a farm in the town of Kiyotake, 60 km away from Hyuga, were killed by avian flu. With guidance and help from the agriculture ministry, the farm incinerated all of its 12,000 birds.

    Bird flu infections hit dozens of farms in central Japan's Ibaraki prefecture in 2005 and 2006, resulting in the killing of at least 5.8 million poultry.