Bird flu death toll in Indonesia at 38

JAKARTA, Indonesia - International tests have confirmed that a 7-year-old girl died from the H5N1 strain of bird flu earlier this month, bringing Indonesia's death toll from the virus to at least 38, a health official said Thursday. The girl's brother also died showing symptoms of the virus, but he was buried before tests were conducted, the Health Ministry said earlier this month. Nyoman Kandun, a senior Health Ministry official, said tests from a Hong Kong laboratory sanctioned by the World Health Organization confirmed the girl had the virus. Indonesia has the world's second highest death toll from bird flu after Vietnam, where 42 people have died. Bird flu has killed at least 128 people worldwide since it started ravaging Asian poultry farms in late 2003. So far, most human cases have been linked to contact with infected birds, but experts fear the virus could mutate into a form more easily transmissible between humans, potentially sparking a pandemic that could kill millions. Experts suspected human-to-human transmission among several members of the same family who contracted the illness earlier this year in a North Sumatra village in Indonesia. But no one outside the group of blood relatives has fallen ill, and experts say the virus has not mutated. The World Bank this week said Indonesia's efforts to stop the spread of bird flu were underfunded. Indonesia has said it will need $900 million over the next three years to fight the H5N1 virus, but has only budgeted $59 million for 2006.-AP