WHO fears bird flu began in April

Maria Cheng at the WHO would not say where tainted samples currently being tested came from, but she denied that they were from China.

The news may worry health experts, because it suggests the virus has already had time to spread widely.

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Ten people have died from bird flu, but it has yet to jump from human to human.

The outbreak was first publicly reported in December, in South Korea.

But Cheng said the WHO received samples two weeks ago dating back to April last year, and initial tests showed they were carrying the H5N1 virus which is now sweeping Asia.

She said that the WHO was not certain that the samples were carrying exactly the same strain as the current outbreak, but "it looks similar".

The WHO has asked for an explanation of the deaths last February of two Hong Kong tourists who had visited southern China, as part of efforts to track the origins of the outbreak which has claimed 10 lives.

The deaths of the eight-year-old Hong Kong girl and her father, who was confirmed as having the virus, is under the spotlight after a respected scientific journal reported the epidemic probably erupted in southern China.

"The outbreak began as early as the first half of 2003, probably in China," the British weekly New Scientist said, citing unnamed health experts.

"A combination of official cover-up and questionable farming practices allowed it to turn into the epidemic now under way."

However, the WHO's Beijing-based spokesman Roy Wadia said that despite the suspected link with the dead tourists, it was too early to confirm China as the origin of the disease which could have had several possible sources.

New Scientist said it suspected the deadly H5N1 virus was disseminated through a mass poultry vaccination by Chinese farmers anxious to protect their flocks from the disease, which triggered a mass cull in Hong Kong in 1997.

China, where Sars originated to kill 800 people worldwide, has denied it is responsible for the bird flu.

"It's purely a guess, a groundless guess," Chinese Vice Agriculture Minister Qi Jingfa told reporters in Bangkok after an emergency meeting of the 10 countries hit by the lethal virus that has killed six people in Vietnam and two in Thailand.

China has reported three bird flu outbreaks in three different areas and, like most affected countries, is slaughtering domestic fowl by the tens of thousands in hopes of stamping the virus out.

Asian countries still free of the virus are erecting strong defences and Europe, having already banned poultry imports from affected countries, went a step further, banning exotic pet birds from Southeast Asia.

Asian countries and international health officials pledged a coordinated fight against the avian flu at Wednesday's emergency meeting in Bangkok.