Melbourne: A team of Australian researchers has developed a new test to distinguish between birds that have been vaccinated against the H5N1 strain of the avian influenza virus or bird flu and those which have been naturally infected with the virus.

"Outbreaks in birds are largely being controlled by vaccination and this is limiting human exposure to this virus. With this new, more sensitive, test we can identify vaccinated birds with live virus and prevent the escape of any mutant strains," said lead researcher Farhid Hemmatzadeh from the University of Adelaide in Australia.