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NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Zafi.D worm, which disguises itself as an e-mail holiday greeting, is currently the most frequently detected worldwide virus, software security company Panda Software says.

The worm is most commonly found in South America, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria and Hungary and spreads itself in an e-mail attachment that says "Happy holidays!"

Glendale, California-based Panda also noted in a statement on Wednesday that the virus has the ability to adapt to the language of the user, matching the message's language to the domain of a user's e-mail address.

In addition, Zafi.D -- which appeared for the first time on Tuesday -- enables attackers to gain remote control of an affected computer, Panda said.

The worm is not expected to have much effect on the United States because the time difference with Europe gave advance warning to U.S. anti-virus companies, broadcaster CNN said on its Web site on Wednesday.

This is the fourth incarnation of Zafi, with the first one detected last April, CNN said.

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Source: Reuters