Special report: Global fight against bird flu

    BEIJING, Aug. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- A young woman died from bird flu on the Indonesian island of Bali Sunday, the first such case on the island, confirmed two local laboratory tests on Tuesday.

    The woman, Ni Luh Putu Sri Windiani, 29, having a high fever when she was admitted to hospital, died from multiple organ failure in Denpasar's Sanglah Hospital on Sunday evening.

    Her five-year-old daughter, suffering from similar symptoms after playing with chickens, died earlier last Wednesday, but was not tested for the deadly H5N1 virus.

    A two-year-old girl from the same town of Negara had been hospitalized, Indonesian health officials confirmed.

    There had been sick chickens around the dead woman's house recently, according to Joko Suyono, of the Indonesian Health Ministry's bird flu center.

    In Indonesia, villagers live close to millions of backyard chickens. "The villagers didn't burn the carcasses," said Suyono, "Instead they buried them or fed them to pigs."

    The death raises the official bird flu toll in Indonesia to 82, the highest in the world. The total death toll worldwide stands at present.

    Bali, a resort sland, is the center of the country's tourist industry. The death of the young woman has raised fears among holidaymakers -- a hit to its tourism at a time when it is recovering from the terrorist attacks in recent years.

    (Agencies)