Singapore has suspended poultry imports from Malaysia after scientists there found a potentially deadly form of bird flu in chickens. It is the first time the H5 strain of the virus has been found in Malaysia. The outbreak was detected in the Malaysian state of Kelantan at a village near the Thai border. Malaysian eggs have also been banned and the Singaporean authorities have warned of shortages until alternative supplies can be found. The Malaysian authorities have described the outbreak as small, establishing a 10km quarantine zone around the affected area and culling only around 170 chickens, ducks and pet birds. But the response from Singapore has been swift. It has stopped all imports of poultry and poultry products from Malaysia. The island state imports around 2m eggs - around two-thirds of its total supply - as well as a 120,000 chickens and 20,000 ducks each day from its northern neighbour. Scientists of the University Putra Malaysia are expected to announce on Thursday whether the infected birds found in Kelantan are carrying the H5N1 or H5N2 variants of bird flu, both potentially fatal to humans. Meanwhile, a team from the World Health Organisation is travelling to Vietnam to determine whether the bird flu virus has mutated there after a new outbreak killed a woman and two children earlier this month. Avian flu claimed 19 lives in Vietnam when the virus swept the region earlier this year.