Three people are suspected of having bird flu in Indonesia Thursday, bringing the total to 12, after the virus killed four people in the country, an official said.

One of the 12 patients, a five years old child, was treated at a hospital in East Kalimantan province in eastern Indonesia and the rest are in Java island.

Two of them have been confirmed having the disease by laboratory test, said Santoso Suroso, the head of Sulianti Saroso Hospital in Jakarta.

"Two are treated in intensive care unit and ten in isolated room, the two are in status of probability," he told Xinhua.

He said that the blood samples of the two patients had been sent to a Hong Kong laboratory and the result would come out in the next several days.

The disease has spread to 21 out of the 33 Indonesian provinces since late 2003.

Source: Xinhua