Authorities in Japan say they have detected signs of bird flu at a farm north of Tokyo.
Japan's Kyodo news agency said Monday officials plan to kill 82,000 chickens at the farm.
The farm is in a quarantined area of Ibaraki prefecture, where media reports say approximately 1.5 million birds have already been culled because of past bird-flu outbreaks.
It was not clear if the bird flu detected in Japan was the H5N1 strain of the virus that has killed more than 60 people in Asia over the past two years.
Meanwhile, Vietnam is calling for more international assistance to help it fight avian influenza.
A Vietnamese official asked for help at a meeting of health and disaster officials from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Brisbane, Australia.
The APEC officials are discussing contingency plans in case H5N1 strain of the bird-flu virus begins spreading between humans.
Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.