A 22-year old woman from an outskirt city of Jakarta has been positively infected by avian influenza, bringing the number of people contracted by the disease to 77, Indonesian Health Ministry said here on Friday.

 

The woman has been treated in Persahabatan Hospital in East Jakarta since Thursday after shifted from a hospital in Tanggerang town near Jakarta, she was treated in the hospital on Wednesday, an official of the anti-bird flu center said.

 

"The test results that she is positive infected by bird flu," the official in anonymity told Xinhua.

 

The woman has history contacts with fowls, as there have been many chickens died around her house.

 

She lives in one close territory with the woman and the boy who died of the H5N1 in Jakarta this week.

 

Authorities have been investigating the death of the animals, according to the official.

 

Indonesia, which has been hit the hardest by bird flu, has become one of the front lines in the fighting against the H5N1 virus.

 

U.S. President George W. Bush in his meeting with his Indonesian counterpart Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Nov. 20 in Bogor town near Jakarta has promised to help Indonesia in combating the deadly disease.

 

Indonesia, which has been lack of funds to combat the disease, expects the United States can use its power to push donor countries to materialize their pledge of around 6 billion U.S. dollars to help fight avian influenza.

 

Experts have warned international community of the risks of the disease should Indonesia fail to prevent the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus from spreading.

 

Millions of people can be killed should the highly pathogenic H5N1 mutate into a certain level, which can make it transmittable among humans.

 

The huge territory, back yard centered farming and relatively lack budget have hampered the authorities' fighting against avian influenza.

 

Asia has been hit the hardest with 136 out the 153 human deaths from bird flu since 2003 occurring in East Asian countries, according to data from the World Bank.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 12, 2007)