The woman, who had seen dead birds while travelling in Turkey, showed symptoms of flu combined with breathing difficulties and was hospitalised in Montpellier.

Several tests were done to establish if she was affected by the virus but all the results were negative, the ministry said in a statement.

Tarsus, in Turkey's East Mediterranean part, is not known to have been affected by the disease, the ministry said.

Turkey has reported at least four deaths from the H5N1 strain of bird flu this month, bringing the strain to the gates of Europe and the Middle East.

The epicentre of Turkey's outbreak is in the east, near to Syria, Iraq, Iran and Armenia.

Victims contract the virus through close contact with sick birds, but there are fears it could mutate into a form that can pass easily from person to person, sparking a pandemic.

The French government earli er this month tightened its own protection measures against a possible outbreak of the virus.

It has raised the number of departments where poultry must be kept inside to 58 ­ almost twothirds of the country ­ from 26.

In Algiers, the government said on Sunday it will spend eight billion dinars (RM415 million) to protect itself from any outbreak of bird flu in the North African country, state radio said on Sunday.

Algerian Health Minister Amar Tou was quoted as saying the money would be used to import more than seven million doses of anti-viral drugs.

He stressed that no case of the disease had been so far reported in the country.

Tou also said the government had ordered seven million masks for health staff in case of any epidemic.

The authorities have said they plan increased health checks at airports and ports to ensure passengers and goods from places hit by the virus do not bring it into the country of 33 million. ­ Agencies