British scientists will deduce the entire genetic sequence of a Turkish bird flu virus within days and use the code to determine whether the virus is resistant to Tamiflu, the drug being stockpiled to deal with a pandemic.

The study is being conducted by a team led by Dr. Alan Hay, director of the World Influenza Centre in northern London. The team has received six samples from Turkey, of which two have been confirmed to be the highly pathogenic H5N1, said Prof Colin Blakemore, chief executive of the Medical Research Council.

The researchers have succeeded in growing the first sample virus in eggs and "will have the complete sequence in two or three days", according to a report posted on the Website of the British newspaper Telegraph, quoting Prof Blakemore.

"It is incredible. This will tell us where the virus came from. It will tell us whether there have been mutations."

In addition, the team can use the code to work out whether the virus is resistant to Tamiflu. Resistance would be "alarming", said Prof Blakemore, because the drug was "the main line of defence".

An earlier study showed how the "Spanish flu" virus that killed around 50 million people in 1918 originated from a bird flu.

Because the Spanish flu virus kept key characteristics of its avian precursor, it could catch the human immune system off guard, accounting for its high infectivity and the extraordinary mortality.

Reports say 15 people in Turkey have been infected with H5N1 influenza and three children have died although the World Health Organization has so far confirmed only four cases in the country, of which two are have died.