Indonesia on Saturday confirmed an 11-year-old boy had died of avian
influenza, bringing the total death from the disease to 50 out of 66 cases.
Director of Environmental Health and Disease Control under the Health
Ministry, Nyoman Kandun, told Xinhua the boy from Tulung Agung district of East
Java province, who died on Sept. 11, had contacted with fowl, and the result of
bird flu test was positive.
The total deaths from the highly pathogenic H5N1 in Indonesia has surpassed
Vietnam, making the country the most hard hit in the world.
Experts fear the virus could mutate to a certain level that can make it
transmittable among human.
The vast territory, back yard centered farming and relatively lack of budget
have hampered authorities in the country from fighting the highly pathogenic
H5N1.
Asia has been hardest hit by bird flu, with 128 out of the 145 human deaths
from bird flu since 2003 occurring in East Asian countries, according to data
from the World Bank.
