KUALA LUMPUR: Indonesian health ministry officials reported that an 8-year-old girl had died from bird flu on Thursday. Ministry officials said that K.K. had falled ill on June 18 after being infected with the H5N1 Avian Influenza virus in West Java after having carried home recently slaughtered chickens. Tjandra Yoga Aditama, director general of disease control and environmental health at the Indonesian Health Ministry, said it's likely she contracted the disease at the market. “She was in contact with [live] poultry,” Tjandra said. “She went to the market with her father and sibling and bought five live animals. She chose to hold the chickens after they have been killed.” The official said the girl first showed signs of the illness while on a trip to Singapore and a local doctor had initially diagnosed her with laryngitis. On June 24, however, the girl was taken to a hospital in Jakarta with a high fever, persistent cough and nausea. Doctors believed she had pneumonia, Antara news agency reported. She then tested positive for the H5N1 virus June 29. “Her condition got worse and on July 3, 2012 at 22.45 she died,” Tjandra said. Indonesia was the hardest hit country during the Asian bird flu epidemic in the mid-2000s, Antara said.
