Source: http://www.antara.co.id/en/arc/2008/4/30/indonesian-boy-dies-of-bird-flu-health-ministry/ Jakarta (ANTARA News) - A three-year-old Indonesian boy who died last week had bird flu, a health ministry official confirmed Wednesday, bringing the toll to 108 in the country worst hit by the disease.
The child, from a village in Wonogiri in Central Java, died at a state hospital in nearby Solo city on April 23, health ministry spokeswoman Lili Sulistyawati said.
"The results of two tests on the patient's samples showed that he was infected with the H5N1 virus," Sulistyawati was quoted by AFP as saying.
Two positive test results are needed before Indonesian authorities confirm a bird flu infection.
The source of the boy's infection was not clear but the vast majority of people who have died from the disease have contracted it through close contact with infected poultry or fowl.
Experts fear the virus could mutate into a form easily transmissible between people, sparking a deadly global pandemic.
Fourteen people have died of bird flu in Indonesia this year, making the country the worst hit by the disease so far. (*)
