Indonesian girl dies of suspected bird flu
JAKARTA (Reuters) - An Indonesian girl who died on Tuesday is suspected to have been the country's sixth bird flu victim, but a hospital spokesman said on Tuesday officials are waiting for local test results.
The latest death, if confirmed by further testing, would bring to 10 the number of human cases in the world's fourth most populous nation. Five Indonesians are confirmed to have died.
The 16-year-old girl was admitted to a Jakarta hospital on Sunday suffering from high fever and heavy pneumonia and died on Tuesday morning.
She lived in an East Jakarta suburb near a bird market but no evidence of direct contact with infected fowl has yet been established.
"Based on the clinical symptoms, it looks like bird flu," said Ilham Patu, spokesman for Jakarta's Sulianti Saroso hospital.
"We have taken samples and the test result should be available in the next two or three days."
Local testing is usually followed by analysis at a Hong Kong laboratory recognised by the World Health Organization.
The H5N1 virus has infected at least 123 people in Asia and killed more than 60, giving a known mortality rate of over 50 percent.
Vietnam on Tuesday confirmed its 42nd human death from bird flu. Thirteen have died in Thailand and four in Cambodia.
Most cases have been blamed on direct or indirect contact with infected chickens. But scientists fear the virus will mutate into a form that passes easily between humans.
Copyright © 2008 Reuters
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