Indonesia's human bird flu death toll climbs

The number of people killed by bird flu in Indonesia climbed to 12 today after a laboratory sanctioned by the World Health Organisation confirmed the death of a woman, officials said.

The 29-year-old victim died on Wednesday night but the results of tests sent to Hong Kong only came back today, said WHO spokeswoman Sari Setiogi.

Bird flu has killed hundreds of millions of chickens and ducks since it started ravaging poultry stocks across Asia in 2003, and has jumped to humans, killing at least 78 people.

Most human cases of the disease have been traced to contact with infected birds.

Experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that passes easily between people, possibly sparking a pandemc.