Indonesia reports third H5N1 death this year

A 19-year-old Indonesian woman has died of avian influenza on the outskirts of Jakarta, putting the total death toll from the disease to three this year, a statement from health ministry said on Wednesday. Concerns about H5N1 have risen in the region following reports of deaths in Indonesia, Cambodia, China and Vietnam this year. The woman died on Feb. 13 after being treated in a hospital in Tanggerang town. She first felt the symptoms of the disease five days earlier and was treated in hospital a day before she died. Laboratory tests confirmed the woman had bird flu, but it is still unknown how she contracted the virus. Contact with poultry, particularly chicken, is the common cause of fatality in Indonesia. The latest death put the total death toll from bird flu in the vast archipelago country to 153 out of 185 cases. Indonesia was hit hard by H5N1 virus in 2005. Nine people, including two children, were killed last year when the virus started to reoccur. Enditem