The woman was apparently staying close to a slaughterhouse for poultry, which may have been how she developed bird flu. On Monday a 9-year-old Indonesian boy also succumbed to the infection. Bird flu has become endemic in most of the country's 33 provinces.

Of the 120 H5N1 cases reported from Indonesia, 98 have proved fatal.

Avian influenza or bird flu is caused by a subtype of the H5N1 virus and affects domestic poultry as well as wild birds. The virus first made its appearance in Hong Kong in 1997 and resurfaced in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam in late 2003 and early 2004 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By late 2004 the infection was said to be under control.

But last year was a watershed in terms of human fatalities. Indonesia was the worst affected country with over 60 documented human deaths followed by Vietnam. One real fear is that if the H5N1 virus mutates to an easily transmissible from between humans, a horrific flu pandemic will result and claim millions of lives, according to scientists.

Bird flu has emerged as one of potentially lethal conditions to affect mankind in the 21st century. The condition caused by the deadly H5N1 virus has so far claimed over 221 lives globally out of 353 confirmed cases since 2003, according to World Health Organization data.

Experts fear if the H5N1 virus mutates to a form that is easily transmissible between humans, it could trigger a worldwide pandemic and claim millions of lives, as there is no treatment against it.

Infection in humans typically stars as fever, cough, sore throat, and muscle aches progressing to eye infections (conjunctivitis), pneumonia, acute respiratory distress, viral pneumonia, and other severe and life-threatening complications, according to the CDC.

In recent months, the H5N1 bird flu has been detected in China and India. In China human-human transmission is said to have occurred on a limited basis.
 

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