South Korea is testing to see if one of the workers taking part in a mass cull of poultry infected with bird flu may have become infected with the deadly virus, the health ministry said on Tuesday. The ministry said it would take about one to three weeks to confirm if the soldier, said to be 22-years old by local media, had been infected with the H5N1 strain of bird flu. "The soldier's symptoms are consistent with that of suspected AI (avian influenza) patients, according to World Health Organisation standards, but the clinical symptoms also resemble bacterial pneumonia so we are on a close watch," the ministry said in a statement.

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