(Adds details in paragraphs 5 to 7) BEIJING, May 19 (Reuters) - China has confirmed an outbreak of the H5N1 birdflu virus among poultry in the central province of Hunan, but no cases of human infection in the area hit, state media reported on Saturday. The outbreak was in a village near Yiyang city in Hunan and killed 11,172 birds, a Ministry of Agriculture spokesman told Xinhua news agency. Scientists had sourced the poultry deaths to H5N1, the strain of avian influenza that scientists fear could mutate into a form that jumps easily from human to human, threatening an epidemic. People in close contact with infected birds can fall ill and die, but the latest report did not mention any human cases. Worldwide, the virus has killed 185 people since 2003, including 15 in China, according to the World Health Organisation. China's most recent reported human death from bird flu was in March. China has millions of backyard birds and a strained rural medical system that is seen as key in the fight against bird flu. Hunan authorities have taken steps to contain the outbreak, culling close to 53,000 other birds, Xinhua reported. Yiyang, the site of the outbreak, lies next to Lake Dongting, which hosts many migratory birds.
