March 28, 2007

Three Indonesians die of bird flu
 

Three Indonesians died of bird flu recently, the health minister confirmed Wednesday, raising the country's death toll to 69.

"Local tests for three patients came back positive," Health Minister Siti Fadiliah Supari told reporters.

A 22-year-old woman died Saturday in southern Sumatra's city of Palembang, followed by a 15-year-old boy Sunday in the West Java town of Bandung, and a 40-year-old man early Wednesday in East Java's capital of Surabaya, said Nyoman Kandun, a senior health ministry official.

Bird flu has killed at least 169 people since it began ravaging Asian poultry stocks in 2003, hitting Indonesia the hardest, according to the World Health Organization.

It remains hard for people to catch, and most human cases have been linked to contact with sick birds. But experts fear it could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people, potentially sparking a pandemic that could kill millions.