Indonesia Announces 2 Bird Flu Deaths

Indonesian health officials say two women infected with the bird flu virus have died, bringing to 61 the number of people who have died from the disease in the country.

Officials say both women, who died in recent days, were being treated at a hospital in Jakarta. Earlier this week, a teenage boy and a 37-year-old woman died of bird flu.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed more than 150 people worldwide since late 2003, mostly in Asia.

Bird flu remains hard for humans to catch, but experts fear the virus could mutate into a form easily transferable by human-to-human contact. - VOA News