Azerbaijan became the latest country to report an outbreak of avian flu, with officials saying yesterday that the lethal H5N1 strain had been confirmed in wild birds floating dead on the Caspian Sea.

The birds were found in the Caspian Sea near the Absheron peninsula, and off the southern Massaly region, near the border with Iran, Emin Shakhbazov, deputy head of the country´s veterinary service, told reporters.