Bird flu likely behind death in Indonesia

PEKANBARU, Indonesia, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Health officials in the Indonesian province of Riau said they suspect that a man who died there Friday had been infected with the bird flu virus.

Riau provincial health office official Burhandudin Agung told the Indonesian news agency Antara that the patient, identified only as LT, had been treated as a potential victim of the virus until his death Friday.

"The patient was treated in an isolation room for bird flu patients at Arifin Achmad Regional General Hospital," Agung said.

Doctors at the hospital have been unable to prove that LT had been infected with the potentially deadly avian influenza virus.

A test sample of his blood was sent to the Indonesia Health Ministry following his death to determine whether the virus had caused his death.

Antara reported that at the beginning of October, the Indonesian Health Ministry said 107 people have been infected nationwide and that 86 individuals have died from the virus.