Another man has been confirmed by the World Health Organization's (WHO) laboratory test in Hong Kong as infected with bird flu, while his nephew, a four-year-old boy was also tested positive by local laboratory as having the virus, an official said here on Monday.

Director General of Disease Control and Environmental Health of the Indonesian Health Ministry I Nyoman Kandun told Xinhua that the case brought the total persons confirmed by the organization of having the H5N1 virus to five in Indonesia. The first four have died in tandem.

The man with initial of H of 21 years old from Lampung Province had been treated in Abdoel Moeluk Hospital in the province. Later, the health officials sent his blood sample to the WHO laboratory in Hong Kong, said Kandun.

"H was confirmed as positive by Hong Kong laboratory test," he said.

"Now, we are waiting for the result of the boy's blood sample from Hong Kong. Normally, if local test said positive, Hong Kong laboratory will say the same. If it is positive, it will add to the list of persons confirmed by the WHO," the director said.

Kandun said that so far over 98 bird flu cases with bird flu symptoms had been found across the country.

Indonesia's health minister has said the country could face a bird flu epidemic if the number of suspected cases of the virus continued to mount.

The highly pathogenic H5N1 strain, which has killed 64 people in four Asian countries since late 2003, has also been found in birds in Russia and Europe.

Source: Xinhua