Indonesia's Bird Flu Death Toll Reaches 42

The World Health Organisation confirmed the 42nd human bird flu death in Indonesia, bring the country at par with Vietnam as the two worst-hit by the virus,a senior official of Indonesian Health Ministry said here on Thursday.

"The result was positive, we received from the WHO affiliated-laboratory in Hong Kong today," Hariadi Wibisono, the director at the ministry told Xinhua.

According to the director, the 44-year-old man, who died last week at a hospital in East Jakarta, had the H5N1 virus.

Two months ago, the biggest cluster bird flu in the world was found in Indonesia's North Sumatra province, followed by one in the province of Surabaya.

Bird flu has killed at least 132 people worldwide since it started ravaging Asian poultry stocks in late 2003, according to WHO.

(Source: IANS/Xinhua)