H5N1 Claims 64th Victim in Indonesia

From 24Dash:

"A 20-year-old woman died of bird flu early today, bringing the number of people killed by the virus in hardest-hit Indonesia to 64, health and hospital officials said.

The victim was from the West Java village of Karangpawitan, where at least four other people also have fallen ill with symptoms of the disease, said Yogi Suprayogi, a spokesman at Slamet Hospital where she was admitted on Friday.

"She was in really bad condition when she came here," said Suprayogi, adding that the woman apparently had contact with dead chickens a week before she was admitted.

Hundreds of chickens have dropped dead in the village in recent days and officials were heading to the area, 125 miles south-east of the capital Jakarta, to test other residents for the disease, he said.

The H5N1 virus has prompted the slaughter of millions of birds across Asia since late 2003, and has caused the deaths of 167 people worldwide, including Indonesia's latest victim, according to the World Health Organization."

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But of course, no samples of the H5N1 strain that killed her will be sent to the WHO, just the report of her death.