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Indonesia denies new case of bird flu death

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-11-13 14:59

JAKARTA -- Indonesian Health Ministry on Thursday denied foreign reports that a 15-year-old girl from Central Java had died of avian influenza, saying two laboratory tests had showed her blood samples negative of H5N1.

The girl died on Friday in Karyadi Hospital in Semarang city, 250 miles east of Jakarta after 10 days of medical treatment.

Denying several foreign reports that the girl had been confirmed dead of bird flu, Health Minister Siti Padilah Sufari said: "Both of the laboratory tests showed that she was negative of bird flu, so the total death toll (of bird flu) remains 112."

A total of 137 people had been infected by bird flu in Indonesia, making the country hardest hit by the deadly virus. The avian influenza has killed so far 244 people in the world.

Indonesia has been striving to diminish the factors that facilitate the spread of the bird flu virus, including big territory, traditional way of rising chickens on back yard and lack of obedience of provincial administration in implementing Jakarta's relevant decisions.