Jakarta - A 17-year-old Indonesian girl who died after being admitted to hospital in western Java tested positive for the H5N1 avian influenza virus on Thursday, bringing the country's world-worst death toll to 83, a health official said. The girl, identified only by the initials LU, died on Tuesday at a hospital in Tangerang, Banten province, after developing flu-like symptoms, said Joko Suyanto, an official at the Indonesian Health Ministry's Bird Flu Information Centre.
"It is not clear yet whether she had been in contact with chickens," he said. "Our team is now in the field finding out."
Suyanto said the girl began showing symptoms of bird flu on August 3, five days before she was admitted to the hospital. Her condition continued to deteriorate and she died on Tuesday.
The girl, the 83rd death from 104 cases nationwide, reportedly worked as a housemaid in Banten, which has had numerous bird flu cases. On Monday, health officials announced that a woman who died last week on the resort island of Bali also had the H5N1 virus.
Most human infections globally have occurred after contact with sick birds, though scientists fear the virus might mutate into a form more easily transmissible among humans and trigger a global pandemic that could kill millions.
Alarmed by a sudden spike in bird flu deaths in January after weeks without one, the Indonesian government banned the popular practice of keeping chickens in backyards in residential areas in nine provinces and the capital Jakarta in a bid to curb human infections.
