Indonesia’s Bird Flu Death Toll at 72

JAKARTA, Indonesia – A 23-year-old woman has died of bird flu, raising the country’s toll to 72, a Health Ministry official said Wednesday.

The woman died almost immediately after arriving at Persahabatan hospital on Sunday, Muhammad Nadirin said.

Bird flu has killed at least 170 people since it began ravaging Asian poultry stocks in 2003, hitting Indonesia the hardest, according to the World Health Organization. It remains hard for people to catch, and most human cases have been linked to contact with sick birds.

But experts fear it could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people, potentially sparking a pandemic that could kill millions.