Two more human cases of bird flu in Indonesia

The World Health Organisation reports that a 30-month-old boy from Karawang in West Java province died of the illness, citing information from the Indonesian health ministry. The boy became ill on 5 November and was hospitalised on 10 November.

The other new case is in a 35-year-old woman from Tangerang in Banten province, also on Java, the WHO said. She became ill on 7 November, and has been hospitalised since 10 November.

The boy had been in contact with sick poultry, but the source of the woman’s infection is unclear as yet, an Indonesian official was cited by Agence France-Presse as saying.

The last fatal cases in Indonesia were reported in 16 October, when three people died from the avian influenza infection.

The two current illnesses have increased the WHO’s global avian flu tally to 258 cases with 153 deaths. Indonesia has the most deaths of any country, but Vietnam still has the most cases with 93.