Human death toll in Indonesia's bird flu cases rises to 81

The ministry's bird flu center said required tests from the Health Research and Development Agency and the independent Eijkman Foundation showed that the boy from Cilegon Mayoralty in Banten Province, south of Jakarta, died of the disease.

He began to exhibit bird flu symptoms July 1 but was only hospitalized last Thursday.

The center said in a statement it is uncertain how the boy contracted the disease. Most humans who contract bird flu have had contact with infected fowl.

The latest death was Indonesia's 26th this year.

As of Monday, bird flu had infected at least 317 people in 12 countries since its reemergence in December 2003, with 191 of them having died, according to World Health Organization statistics.

Indonesia leads the WHO table, followed by Vietnam with 42 fatalities and Thailand with 17.

The other affected countries are Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Laos, Nigeria and Turkey.

//Kyodo