The World Health Organization have confirmed two Indonesians from the same family died from bird flu, bringing the death toll from the H5N1 virus in the country to 14, a senior health ministry official said Sunday, according to DPA. The 13-year-old girl and her 4-year-old brother died last week in a West Java hospital. Their father and one of their sisters are also hospitalized with symptoms of avian influenza, said Hariadi Wibisono, the Health Ministry's director for the control of animal-borne diseases. Wibosono said test results from WHO-affiliated labs in Hong Kong confirmed the two youths died from H5N1 avian-flu virus. The newest cases were the fifth cluster of humans infected with bird flu in Indonesia, Wibisono said, referring to groups of victims living in close proximity. Health officials said earlier that many fowl had died in the neighbourhood where they lived in the West Java district of Indramayu, about 175 kilometres east of Jakarta. The deaths bring the number to 14 people recorded deaths from bird flu confirmed by WHO laboratory in Indonesia, while five other cases where patients have survived.
