43 bird flu deaths in Indonesia: most in world
A 16-year-old Indonesian boy has died of bird flu, according to Indonesian health officials who cited local laboratory results. This case, if confirmed by World Health Organisation tests, would give Indonesia the world’s highest death toll from the virus.
Blood samples have been sent to a World Health Organisation-recognised laboratory in Atlanta in the US for further testing.
If these tests confirm that the boy died of bird flu, this would take the total number of human infections in the country to 55, with 43 of those being fatal.
Preliminary findings showed that the boy contracted the illness from sick chickens in Bekasi, east of the capital, Jakarta.
Neighbouring Vietnam is the second worst hit country with 42 deaths, although none of these was recorded in 2006.
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