PARIS (Reuters) - Nepal reported an outbreak of severe H5N1 bird flu among backyard ducks near the capital Kathmandu, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said on Tuesday, citing the Nepalese Ministry of Livestock Development.

It was the first outbreak of highly pathogenic bird flu in the country since 2017, OIE said in a report posted on its website.

The virus was found in a flock of 5,633 ducks reared in a backyard in the Kathmandu district, located in the Bagmati zone. It killed 240 animals and the rest were disposed of.

“Ducks reared in backyard system started to show torticollis and greenish white diarrhea and died. Dead ducks were disposed of properly,” the ministry wrote in the report.

Some strains of the H5N1 virus can be transmitted to humans.