45th Indonesian victim
August 17th, 2006
Ai Siti Amanah, a 9 year old girl living in an Indonesian region heavily affected by bird flu, has died after falling victim to the virus. She was only admitted to hospital carrying symptoms of the disease a day before. Laboratory tests proved that she had bird flu and further samples have been sent to an US-affiliated laboratory for confirmation. The village of Clikelet, where the girl lived, accounted for another bird flu victim just recently, while another death was recorded but without tests being carried out on the boy before he was buried. Avian influenza’s worst form - the H5N1 strain - is ravaging poultry stocks across Asia since late 2003. Indonesia now hold the highest death toll, with the latest victim bringing the number of deaths to 45.