The number of deaths from bird flu in Indonesia increased

Indonesia has long not been strong in mass destruction of poultry (Photo: BBC)

Indonesian Ministry of Health officials said the 44th death was a 16-year-old boy who died last night, Monday, and another girl.

Vietnam is also home to many deaths, 42 people, but the bird flu epidemic there seems to have been controlled when there were no deaths since the beginning of the year.

The ill-fated boy in Bekasi, on the outskirts of Jakarta, was taken to a center for treating bird flu at Sulianti Saroso hospital on Saturday and collapsed quickly. Local blood test results show positive for H5N1.

Health officials said he had contact with sick chickens before the symptoms of bird flu virus infection. Infection from infected birds is the main route through humans, but scientists fear that the virus has been adapted to be able to spread directly from person to person through the pandemic.

But experts do not think that the latest death represents a change in the transmission of the epidemic.

WHO has expressed concern for Indonesia in May when a number of fatal outbreaks in North Sumatra province made the organization think of human transmission.

WHO has just announced that it will provide the genetic code of H5N1 found in Indonesia, which previously had only a few labs of the organization to be consulted.

WHO spokesman Dick Thompson told the press that WHO had been approved by Indonesia to publicize these codes on the internet. Places have asked WHO to provide this information so people can find out if the virus has changed.