Another bird flu death in Indonesia

Bird flu has claimed another victim in Indonesia bringing the country's death toll from the deadly virus to 89.

The latest case of the H5N1 strain of bird flu was in a four-year-old girl who died on Monday after being admitted to hospital two days earlier.

A health ministry official says the child was from Tangerang, west of the capital Jakarta, and had been suffering from a fever; she died after being transferred to Persahabatan hospital in Jakarta.

Health officials are investigating the case, and reports from the health ministry's bird flu centre say four chickens had previously died in the child's neighbourhood.

Almost all cases of the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu have been the result of contact with sick fowl and the virus is endemic in the bird populations in most parts of Indonesia.

Millions of Indonesians keep chickens in their backyards which live in close proximity with humans.

Authorities have struggled to impart the most basic precautionary measures to rural areas in particular where people are often reluctant to disclose or cull infected birds.

The vast archipelago has suffered 110 confirmed cases of the disease in humans, with more fatalities than any other country.

According to the World Health Organisation to date there have been 204 deaths and 332 cases globally since 2003.

Experts fear that if a mutation takes place in the virus enabling it to pass between humans, a pandemic affecting millions could be triggered and Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, at present appears the ideal location for that to happen.

The more the virus infects humans the more likely it is to mutate.