Health authorities in Seoul say the bird flu virus that swept across the nation late last year is not the same type of virus that is responsible for at least six human fatalities in Vietnam and one in Thailand.

The Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday that the preliminary results of a genetic analysis conducted by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that the DNA for the domestic virus was different from that of the deadly H5N1 type virus found in Southeast Asia.

The heath center said a final report from the CDC on its analysis of the virus is due next week.

In the meantime, authorities said they would continue animal-testing to see if a mutated version of the local virus could possibly infect human beings.