MOSCOW, March 3 (RIA Novosti) - A senior Indonesian
health official has said four people have died of bird flu in
the country since the start of the year, the Xinhua news agency
said on Tuesday.
"Four deaths from bird flu have been confirmed in January
and February," the head of Indonesia's National Committee for
Bird Flu Control and Pandemic Preparedness, Bayu Krisnamurthi,
was quoted as saying by Xinhua.
National media said the death toll included two children
who died of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu near the capital
of Jakarta.
According to WHO data, Indonesia has the world's highest
human bird flu infection rate with 141 confirmed cases and 115
deaths.
A total of 409 bird flu cases have been registered
worldwide since the virus was first detected in 2003, resulting
in 256 deaths, according to the WHO report.
Although there have been no incidences of human to human
infection, experts fear that the bird flu virus may mutate into
a form that could be easily transmitted from person to person,
causing a global pandemic.
News
