Two new cases of bird flu confirmed in Indonesia

WASHINGTON, Jan 10 (Reuters) Two more people have been diagnosed with bird flu in Indonesia, bringing the country's total to 76 human cases, according to the World Health Organisation.

Both victims are alive, but the H5N1 avian flu virus has killed 57 of its victims in Indonesia, the WHO said in a statement posted yesterday on its web site at (http://www.who.int).

''The first newly confirmed case is a 14-year-old male from West Jakarta. He developed symptoms on 31 December 2006 and was hospitalized on 4 January 2007,'' the WHO said.

''He remains hospitalized. Deaths among poultry in the neighborhood have recently been reported.'' The second victim was a 37-year-old woman from Banten Province, on the western end of the island of Java, WHO said.

''She developed symptoms on 1 January 2007 and was hospitalized on 6 January 2007. She remains in intensive care.

Initial investigations suggest sick poultry as the possible source of infection.'' Indonesia has had more human deaths from H5N1 avian influenza than any other country.

The virus still mostly affects birds, but it has infected 263 people in 10 countries since 2003, killing 157 of them.

Chinese officials said a 37-year-old farmer in the eastern province of Anhui had H5N1, which would bring that country's total to 22 if confirmed by WHO.

China last reported a human case of bird flu in July, when a farmer died of H5N1 in the northwestern region in Xinjiang.

Experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that is easily spread among humans and might spark a pandemic that would kill millions.

The virus is reported to be spreading among birds in Vietnam and in Egypt, where three people in one family were infected with H5N1 in December.

REUTERS AKJ KP1012