A Malaysian child suspected of having bird flu has been cleared of the deadly disease, but the results of tests on two other people are pending, officials said Friday.

Tests on an 18-month-old baby admitted to hospital late Wednesday were negative for the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, the health ministry's director for disease control Ramlee Rahmat said.

There had been no new suspected cases, he told AFP .

The results of tests for two remaining cases, a child aged 10 and a man aged 42, were expected later Friday, he said.

Earlier this week Malaysia confirmed its first outbreak of avian influenza in more than a year after 40 chickens died in four villages near Kuala Lumpur.

An initial group of 10 people from the affected villages who were hospitalised late Tuesday complaining of flu symptoms and respiratory problems have all tested negative for the virus.

Quarantine area

Thousands of birds and hundreds of eggs have been destroyed in a bid to prevent the outbreak spreading.

Officials have extended a quarantine area around the villages to a 10-kilometre (six-mile) radius encompassing the national zoo and the Petronas Twin Towers, the world's second tallest building.

Health officials believe fighting cocks smuggled from neighbouring countries could have been the source of the disease.

Malaysia's last H5N1 outbreak was in late 2004 in a village in northern Kelantan state.

The H5N1 strain has claimed at least 90 mostly Asian lives since late 2003 and has spread to Africa and Europe. So far, there have been no human deaths in Malaysia from the virus.