The World Health Organization (WHO) affiliated laboratory in Atlanta confirmed on Saturday a 27-year old Indonesian woman, who died on Feb. 20, of having bird flu, a senior official of Indonesian Health Ministry said.

The confirmation has put the total death of avian influenza in Indonesia to 20 out of 28 contracted people since 2005, according to the WHO.

The woman had contacted with birds and died after treated at a Jakarta hospital designed for bird flu patients, Director at the ministry Hariadi Wibisono said.

"I have just received the result from WHO laboratory in Atlanta, she was positive," he told Xinhua through telephone.

More than 80 people have been killed by the H5N1 virus in Asia.Indonesia is the hardest hit country in term of the number of cluster and fatalities, according to the WHO.

The virus has spread to Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

A huge population and territory have hampered effort to eliminate the virus in Indonesia, Minister of Agriculture Anton Apriantono has said.

Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country has a population of 220 million and 17,000 islands.