Bird flu claims 2nd sibling

Jakarta - A three-year-old boy suffering symptoms of bird flu died on Tuesday, days after his sister passed away and tested positive for the virus, said officials.

Hariyadi Wibisono of the health ministry said initial tests on the boy were not conclusive and would be repeated.

He said: "The validity of the earlier test results were borderline, so we need to carry out another test."

The boy's 13-year-old sister died over the weekend and tests carried out by the health ministry showed she was carrying the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, which had killed nearly 80 people, mostly in Asia.

Further tests were being carried out at a Hong Kong laboratory accredited by the World Health Organisation to confirm the results.

Turkey confirms fourth fatality

She would be Indonesia's 13th fatality from the virus, which had spread to the Middle East and Europe in the past year, with Turkey confirming on Monday its fourth fatality. Her brother might be Indonesia's 14th victim.

The pair's sibling, a 15-year-old girl, was being treated for bird flu symptoms in a hospital in Bandung, the capital of West Java province. Officials were also testing her for the virus.

Wibisono said the family, from Indramayu in West Java, was the fifth cluster case of bird flu in Indonesia. But, he said there was no evidence that the virus had mutated into a form that passed between people.

He said: "All the previous four cluster cases resulted from direct contact with sick poultry." He earlier said that the three children had all had contact with dead fowl that were kept by the family.

Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, was accused of covering up initial outbreaks.

Experts feared that ongoing contact between infected birds and humans might result in the virus mutating into a form that could be easily passed on by humans, sparking a pandemic with a potential toll of millions.

- AFP