Indonesia youth struck with H5N1

Indonesian teenager tests positive for bird flu

JAKARTA (AP): A teenager being treated at a hospital in West Java province has tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu, Health Ministry said Saturday.

The 17-year-old boy identified only as Umar, from the West Java regency of Garut, was hospitalized after developing a fever and breathing problem, said Haris, an official from the ministry's special task force for bird flu.

"We just received the laboratories' reports today that the teenager has tested positive for bird flu," said Haris.

The tests were conducted at the ministry's laboratory and a U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit, he said.

Haris did not know where the boy was hospitalized.

The deaths of two teenagers this week pushed Indonesia's human toll from the virus to 44, making it the country worst-hit by the disease. Most of the deaths have occurred this year. (***)