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Indonesia has identified the bird flu virus that killed hundreds of thousands of ducks in several provinces in Java in recent weeks, as a more virulent type which is new to the country.
According to a letter by the agriculture ministry's veterinary chief Syukur Iwantoro to the local government officies and the World Health Organization, the veterinary office found that the H5N1 virus involved was a different clade to that usually found in Indonesia.
A clade is a group of organisms, usually species, with a common ancestor.
Mr Iwantoro has called for further research into whether there had been a genetic shift in the virus previously found in the country, or whether the new strain originated overseas.
