JAKARTA, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- A 15-year-old Indonesian girl from West Jakarta has been infected by avian influenza, bringing the total cases to 127 with 103 of them fatal, Indonesian health ministry said here Tuesday.

    The girl was a daughter of a 38-year-old woman who was previously infected by the disease and first developed the symptoms of the disease on Jan. 23, said the spokeswoman of the ministry Lily Sriwahyuni Sulistyowati.

    The girl was now in critical condition at a hospital, said Sulistyowati.

    "Both of her laboratory tests showed today that the girl is positive on bird flu," she told Xinhua.

    She said that it was not clear yet whether the girl had historical contacts with fowls.

    "Investigations into the source of her infection are ongoing. However, she was exposed to her sick mother on Jan. 27-28 and spent time in a neighborhood where chickens and other birds were found," said Sulistyowati.

    "Samples from these birds have been taken and are undergoing tests to determine whether they may have been the source of infection," she said.

    Contact with fowls has been the common source of the infection of the disease in Indonesia.

    The spokesperson said that the girl first showed the symptoms of the H5N1 virus on Feb. 2 and was hospitalized on Feb. 8.

    Experts have said that improper initial medical treatment and poor hygiene of the traditional poultry market have been blamed for the highest fatality rate of bird flu in Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country with a population of over 240 million.

    Indonesia has been grappled with major problem on its effort to stop the spread of the virus spread, including huge territory, traditional way of rising chickens on back yard and lack of obedience of provincial administration in implementing the Jakarta decision to stop the virus spread.