# 1494
Once again, from Tangerang (an area just west of Jakarta), which has become a hotspot for human infections in recent months.
This time sadly, it is an 8-year-old boy, whose name is not given in this first report. This makes the 97th fatality and 119th confirmed case thus far in Indonesia.
The source of the infection is under investigation.
A Hat tip to the Flutrackers newsfeed for this report.
This from Reuters.
Indonesian boy dies of bird flu
18 Jan 2008 12:31:45 GMT
Source: Reuters
JAKARTA, Jan 18 (Reuters) - An eight-year-old Indonesian boy died of bird flu on Friday, the health ministry said, bringing the country's death toll from the virus to 97.
The boy from Tangerang, west of the capital Jakarta, died after being treated for one day at the country's main bird flu treatment centre, the ministry said in an e-mailed statement.
The ministry said the fact the boy's neighbour ran a chicken slaughterhouse was a risk factor and it was investigating.
Contact with sick fowl is the most common way of contracting bird flu, endemic in bird populations in most of Indonesia.
Indonesia has had the most deaths from bird flu of any country.
Although bird flu remains an animal disease, experts fear the virus could mutate into a form easily passed from human to human and kill millions. (Reporting by Telly Nathalia; Writing by Ahmad Pathoni; Editing by Jerry Norton)
