ANOTHER HUMAN BIRD FLU CLUSTER IN INDONESIA

Xinhua:

Eight people from the same village in Indonesia's Lampung province were admitted to hospital allegedly for developing bird flu symptoms, local press said Thursday.

The patients, including two babies and two teenagers, all come from Way Laga village where dozens of chickens have died of the avian influenza.

They were sent to the state-run Abdul Moeloek Hospital in provincial capital Bandarlampung with high fever and respiratory problems after eating the infected chickens, reported the national Antara news agency.

Lampung is located in the southern tip of Sumatra island.

"The patients are placed in the isolated rooms and have undergone laboratory tests. But it takes several days before we get the results," the hospital's director Dr Wirman was quoted as saying.

At least 102 people have died from bird flu out of some 125 reported cases in Indonesia since the outbreak was confirmed in 2003.

IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME...