SEOUL, April 9 (Reuters) - South Korea reported a new outbreak of bird flu on Wednesday at a duck farm in the same southwest area where workers in the past week have culled about half a million poultry at three other infected farms.

The latest outbreak was in Jeongeup, the agriculture ministry said, adding it was investigating possible outbreaks at 10 other farms in the area about 220 km (140 miles) south of Seoul.

It will take a few a days to confirm if the latest outbreak was the deadly H5N1 strain, a ministry official said.

Last Thursday, the country confirmed its first outbreak of the highly virulent strain in 13 months at a farm in Gimje, about 30 km from Jeongeup.

Along with culling poultry in the area, the ministry has also ordered the destruction of eggs, banned the transport of poultry and sent squads of workers to spray disinfectant.

South Korea had seven outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 between November 2006 and March 2007 and has spent 58 billion won ($59 million) on quarantine measures.

Bird flu has killed 238 people globally since 2003, according to the World Health Organisation. A major concern is that it could mutate into a disease that easily passes from one person to another, triggering a deadly global pandemic.

($1=975.8 won) (Reporting by Angela Moon; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Jerry Norton)

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