Latest death in Indonesia from bird flu takes toll up to 87

Oct 8 2007

The latest death in Indonesia from bird flu takes the country's death toll to 87.

The Indonesian health ministry says the 44-year-old woman was from Pekan Baru city on Sumatra, and was apparently treated for fever at several hospitals before finally being admitted to Arifin Achmad hospital on October 4th where she died the following day.

Azizman Saad, the head of bird flu management at the hospital says the woman became sick after she bought chicken in a market last month.

Officials say tests by Indonesia's main laboratory for bird flu research showed that the woman had contracted the deadly H5N1 virus.

Investigators are trying to verify exactly how the woman was exposed to the virus.

Indonesia has to date had 108 confirmed bird flu cases, of which 87 have been fatal and has the highest death toll for bird flu in the world since the virus began attacking poultry stocks across Asia in 2003.

Almost all human cases to date have been traced to contact with infected birds, but experts continue to fear the virus will mutate into a form that spreads easily between humans, with the potential to trigger a global pandemic.

Indonesia is one of the world's most populated countries and millions have chickens in their backyards; the vast archipelago is considered to be a possible hot spot for that mutation to take place.

According to the World Health Organization Indonesia's human death toll now accounts for almost half of the recorded 200 fatalities worldwide.