Special report: Global fight against bird flu

    JAKARTA, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia has recorded the 69th avian influenza infection in human being, Director of Animal Disease and Health Control under the Health Ministry Nyoman Kandun said here Thursday.

    "A 21-year-old woman from Tulung Agung district of East Java Province is positively infected by the H5N1," Kandun told Xinhua.

    The director said the woman who has developed symptoms since Sept. 19 and hospitalized since Sept. 25 had had contacts with fowls.

    She is the sister of a confirmed H5N1 case, an 11-year-old boy who died on Sept. 18, Kandun said.

    Indonesia has recorded 52 deaths out of the 69 cases, surpassing Vietnam, making Indonesia the world's most hard hit by the virus, according to the World Health Organization.

    Millions of people can be killed should the highly pathogenic H5N1 mutates into a certain level, which can make it transmittable among humans.

    The huge territory, back yard centered farming and relatively lack budget have hampered the authorities in the country to fighting avian influenza.

    Asia has been the hardest hit, with 130 out the 146 human deaths arising from bird flu since 2003 occurring in East Asian countries, according to the data from the World Bank. Enditem