The Ministry of Health of Indonesia has announced a new case of human infection of H5N1 avian influenza.
A 16-year-old female from Kendal district, Central Java province developed symptoms on 21 May, was hospitalized on 25 May and died in hospital on 29 May.
Initial investigations into the source of her infection indicate exposure to dead poultry.
Of the 99 cases confirmed to date in Indonesia, 79 have been fatal.
In Jakarta, the head of Indonesia’s commission on bird flu control remarked that the virus may have undergone a mutation in the country that allows it to jump more easily from poultry to humans. Indonesia has recorded 79 human deaths from bird flu, the highest in the world, and the country has been struggling to contain the disease because millions of backyard chickens live in close proximity to humans across the archipelago.