Chickens at a Rangoon market ready for sale on Monday,Mar.13, 2006, although Burma announced its first bird flu outbreak in Mandalay

The United Nations and the Afghan government say the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has been found in Afghanistan.

Officials said today-Thursday a laboratory in Italy has confirmed that six samples tested positive for H5N1 in birds from Kabul and the eastern province of Nangarhar.

Elsewhere, The UN Food and Agriculture Organization confirms an outbreak of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in central Burma.

Burma announced Monday the country's first official outbreak in poultry in Mandalay.

The military government also lifted a news blackout today, releasing details about bird flu and preventative measures against the virus.

Meanwhile, Malaysia announced a new outbreak of the H5N1 strain in chickens in the northern state of Perak.

And workers in India are killing at least 75,000 birds after the country's latest bird flu outbreak in the western state of Maharashtra. Authorities there are waiting to learn whether the virus is the H5N1 strain.