Feb 3 (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation confirmed that a Nigerian woman had died of bird flu, the first known human fatality of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of the virus in sub-Saharan Africa.

On the same day, authorities confirmed that thousands of turkeys on a farm in eastern England had died of H5N1.

The strain has killed at least 165 people worldwide since 2003, most of them in Asia, and more than 200 million birds have died from it or been killed to prevent its spread. Scientists fear it could mutate into a form that can be easily transmitted between humans, and trigger a global pandemic.

Here is a brief chronology of some of the major bird flu developments since last year:

Feb. 8, 2006 - The first African cases of the deadly H5N1 strain are detected in poultry in the northern Nigerian states of Kano, Kaduna and Plateau.

Feb. 17 - Egypt finds its first cases of H5N1 in chickens.

Feb. 18 - India announces its first cases of H5N1, finding the virus in poultry in a western state.

Feb. 25 - France confirms H5N1 at a farm in the east where thousands of turkeys have died. It is the first case of the virus in domestic farm birds in the EU.

Aug. 8 - China says its first H5N1 human case was in 2003, and not in 2005 as it had originally reported.

Sept. 28 - China shares long-sought-after samples of H5N1 in what many scientists view as a breakthrough in cooperation.

Dec. 8 - Foreign donors pledge an additional $476 million for the global fight against the virus at a meeting in Mali.

Dec. 21 - South Korea confirms a fourth case of bird flu in poultry. In November, it had confirmed its first case of H5N1 in about three years.

Jan. 9, 2007 - China says a farmer from the eastern province of Anhui contracted H5N1 in December, the country's first human case in months. He was released from hospital on Jan. 6.

Jan. 15 - Thailand reports its first outbreak of H5N1 in six months in ducks in the northern province of Phitsanulok.

Jan. 16 - Japan confirms its first outbreak of H5N1 in three years, in poultry in the southwestern prefecture of Miyazaki. Three further outbreaks in poultry are confirmed by Feb. 3.

Jan. 24 - Thousands of birds are culled after an outbreak among geese on a farm in Hungary. Jan. 29 - WHO confirms another death in Indonesia.

Feb. 3 - WHO confirms that bird flu killed a Nigerian woman, the first known human victim of H5N1 in sub-Saharan Africa. The global death toll stands at 165.

Feb. 3 - Tests show H5N1 killed 2,500 turkeys on a farm in eastern England -- the first outbreak in British poultry.

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