Indonesia has confirmed its 38th death from bird flu after tests by a WHO-accredited laboratory found that a seven-year-old girl who died this month was infected.

The death keeps Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, on track to overtake Vietnam as reporting the world's highest number of deaths from the H5N1 virus since 2003.

"It came back positive," I Nyoman Kandun, director of the health ministry's communicable disease control center, told AFP.

"We have checked everybody who had contact with her and they are negative," he said Thursday.

The girl, who was earlier identified as Yohana, came from the Pamulang area southwest of the capital and died June 1 after treatment in a Jakarta hospital.

Kandun said initial tests carried out by the World Health Organisation in Hong Kong had returned negative but another sample was sent again for re-testing.

The girl's 10-year-old brother, who died two days earlier, was buried before samples could be taken from him for testing.

Indonesia now has the second highest number of victims after Vietnam, which has reported 42 deaths -- none of which occurred this year -- and the highest number this year.

More than 120 people have died of bird flu around the world since late 2003, the vast majority of them in Asia.

Vice President Yusuf Kalla told foreign correspondents separately and before the latest death was announced that bird flu was a global issue.

"Our efforts are based on standard operating procedure. The international community has decided to make universal efforts and we have asked for assistance," he said.

"There are problems, especially in the remote areas, but we are working very hard to solve the problems."

He did not elaborate on Indonesia's strategy, which has been criticised among some health workers here for being too ad hoc and sluggish.

The World Bank too warned this week that it was concerned about an estimated 800-million-dollar funding shortfall for its strategy to prevent a pandemic of the virus.

"It (the strategy) is one area where we are least happy. The problem is implementation and financing," bank economist William Wallace told a press briefing on Monday.

"There should be better planning and better financing," he said, adding that while Jakarta had outlined an effective plan, it had been slow to implement it and it remained unclear just how it would be financed.

Indonesia's economy minister Budiono said Wednesday at the conclusion of talks with the nation's major foreign donors that a special meeting between them and the government on bird flu was slated for the coming weeks.