Another patient tests positive for bird flu

A 16-year-old patient tested positive for a virulent strain of bird flu, bringing the number of Indonesians infected by the virus to 12 – seven of whom died, a health official said today.

The boy is being treated at a hospital in Bandung, West Java province, said senior Health Ministry official Hariadi Wibisono, adding that a Hong Kong laboratory confirmed he had the disease.