Indonesia checks farms for bird flu after deaths - INDONESIA - Indonesia is to carry out extensive checks on farms within a 20-km (12-mile) radius of a house where three people are suspected to have died of bird flu, the agriculture minister said on Monday.

The deaths of a father and two young daughters in Tangerang on the outskirts of Jakarta in recent days, if confirmed, would be the first from bird flu in the world's fourth most populous country.

"If we find an animal contaminated by the virus, we will immediately clamp down on the area," minister Anton Apriyantono told reporters during a farm visit in Tangerang.

Authorities are concerned about possible human-to-human transmission as there was no evidence of contact with poultry in the human deaths.

More samples have been sent to a laboratory in Hong Kong for testing and results could take more than a week. A previous test showed signs of the H5N1 strain of the virus.

The mother of the two girls and her eldest son were under observation, but so far they appeared healthy.

Over the weekend President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono called on authorities to swiftly investigate the three deaths and ordered officials not to cover up their findings.

Last month, Indonesia reported its first human case of bird flu in a poultry worker, but the man did not develop symptoms and remains healthy.

The H5N1 strain has killed more than 50 people in Asia since 2003. More than 140 million chickens have been culled in the region to halt the disease, causing million of dollars in losses.

Source: Reuters - 18th July 2005