The human death toll from bird flu in Indonesia rose to 12 after the World Health Organisation's labs confirmed one more person died from the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, a health official said Saturday. The WHO labs confirmed local test results indicating that a 29- year-old Indonesian woman who died last week in a Jakarta hospital had contracted avian influenza. "We received the confirmation from Hong Kong Last night and it was positive that she died of bird flu," Haryadi Wibisono, a spokesman for the Indonesian health ministry, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. The woman, identified as Sri Mukti, living in the East Jakarta suburb of Cipayung, died at about 10 p.m. Wednesday, four days after being admitted to the infectious diseases ward of Sulianto Saroso Hospital on January 8. "We have now 17 confirmed cases and 12 deaths, while five others have survived," Wibisono told dpa. The avian influenza virus has killed nearly 80 people worldwide.
