Some 5,600 birds died from the highly contagious H5N8 bird flu virus in two outbreaks at farms near the Iranian capital Tehran, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said on Monday.
There were a total of 283,500 birds at the farms and those that did not die of bird flu were slaughtered, the Paris-based OIE said, citing a report from the Iranian agriculture ministry.
"A post outbreak investigation to trace the source of infection is ongoing to detect the probable spread and circulation of this subtype," the ministry said in its report.
There have been cases of infection in wild birds and on farms reported in several European countries and in Israel over the past few weeks.
