Indonesian woman died of bird flu, cluster probed

JAKARTA, Aug 20 (Reuters) A 35-year-old woman who died last week in an Indonesian village described as rife with bird flu was infected with the virus, according to two local tests, and a possible new cluster case is being probed, the health minister said today.

The woman from the West Javan village of Cikelet -- which has seen a series of confirmed and suspected cases of bird flu in humans -- died on Aug. 17 after being treated for symptoms of the H5N1 virus.

''Euis Lina was positive, we suspect there is a possibility of cluster,'' health minister Siti Fadilah Supari told Reuters by telephone.

Fears that the virus had mutated into a form that could pass easily between humans heightened in May when seven people from an extended family died of the disease in Indonesia's North Sumatra.

REUTERS LL HT1227