JAKARTA, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- A 47-year-old Indonesian man has died of bird flu, bringing the country's death toll from the virulent disease to 93, a hospital official said Friday.

    The official, in charge at a bird flu-designed hospital of Persahabatan in East Jakarta who gave the name only as Zulsiah, said the man died on Thursday following three days of treatment for avian influenza.

    The man had been treated in the hospital with fever, difficulty in breathing and cough since Monday, after he was shifted from hospitals in Tanggerang city on the outskirts of Jakarta, said Joko Suyonoanother, official from the anti-bird flu center of the health ministry.

    Laboratories tests showed the man was positively infected by the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus, said Suyono.

    There were 115 infected cases in the hardest-hit country, with 93 fatalities. Although millions of chickens have been culled, the virus is now still endemic in poultry across the world's fourth most populous country.

    Indonesia has grappled with difficulties in stopping the spread of the virus, including sprawling territory, the traditional way of raising chickens in the backyard and ineffective implementation of anti-disease regulations.

    If the virus could mutate to a level capable of transmitting among humans, millions of lives would be put at risk and the world economy would suffer setbacks, experts warned.