July 26 (Reuters) - India became the 25th country to report an outbreak of the H5N1 strain of bird flu this year, as the government confirmed an outbreak on Thursday in poultry in the remote northeast of the country.

Following are some facts about the H5N1 avian flu virus and its spread around the globe.

SIXTY COUNTRIES AFFECTED:

.. Since 2003, when the present global outbreak began, the H5N1 virus has been confirmed in poultry or wildlife in 60 countries and territories, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

HUNDREDS INFECTED:

.. Since then, 192 people have died out of 319 people infected in 12 countries that have recorded human cases, the World Health Organisation says. Countries with confirmed human deaths are: Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Laos, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.

FIRST HUMAN DEATHS:

.. The H5N1 virus is not new to science and was responsible for an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Scotland in 1959. It made its first known jump into humans in Hong Kong in 1997, killing six of 18 people infected.

MILLIONS OF BIRDS SLAUGHTERED:

.. The OIE recommends a mass culling policy for birds to stop the disease spreading, saying vaccines for poultry are not an effective treatment. It estimates about 240 million poultry have died or been slaughtered in efforts to control the virus.

ASIA THE WORST HIT:

.. Indonesia has the world's highest death toll with 81 deaths, and followed by Vietnam with 42 deaths. The H5N1 strain first spread to Europe in July 2005, when it was found in poultry in Russia. It then moved through several eastern European countries, western Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The strain has also returned to others previously cleared of the disease, such as India, which declared itself bird-flu free last August after two major outbreaks.

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Sources: World Organisation for Animal Health (www.oie.int), World Health Organisation (www.who.int/csr/disease/aviantinfluenza/country/casesttablet2007t07t25/en/index.html)

(Writing by Gill Murdoch, editing by David Fogarty; Singapore Editorial Reference Unit, gill.murdochzreuters.com, Reuters Messaging gill.murdoch.reuters.comzreuters.net; +65 6870 3922)