An Indonesian woman aged 29 years died this weekend on the island of Bali. Samples have tested positive for bird flu after an initial test, officials reported.
A second laboratory test, which is now being conducted, is necessary to confirm the initial findings, if confirmed, it would be the first human case of the H5N1 virus in Bali.
The woman’s five-year-old daughter also died recently after playing with chickens but it was unclear if the girl died of bird flu.
Bali Island, Indonesia is located in the Lesser Sunda Islands, off the eastern coast of Java, it constitutes, with minor adjacent islands, a province of Indonesia. The main towns are Singaraja and Denpasar, the provincial capital.
With the flu spreading around the world, the virus has turned up in birds in Asia, Europe and Africa. So far, bird flu has mostly been passed from birds either to other birds or, in isolated cases, to humans. In June 2006, WHO reported the first case of human transference of the disease, when an Indonesian man died after catching the flu from his 10-year-old son.
Bird flu is endemic in bird populations in most parts of Indonesia, where millions of backyard chickens live in close proximity with humans. Experts fear if the virus develops the ability to pass easily between humans, millions might die in a pandemic. Indonesia has had 81 confirmed human deaths from bird flu, the highest for any country in the world. So far there have been 319 confirmed human cases and 192 deaths globally, according to World Health Organisation data.