Local tests showed two Indonesian women have been positively infected by H5N1 virus, bringing the total people infected in the country to 25, a senior official of the hospital designed for bird flu in Jakarta said Thursday.

The two women at age of 27 and 22 years old have been treated in the designed bird flu hospital of Sulianti Suroso in eastern of Jakarta and their blood samples have been sent to the World Health Organization affiliated hospital in Hong Kong, said Director at the hospital Ilham Patu.

"The local tests result were positive, their health condition is now worsening," he told Xinhua in telephone.

But, he said it was not clear whether the two women had had contact with birds.

According to the WHO, Indonesia has 23 cases of bird flu and 16 of them have died.

More than 80 people were killed by the virus in Asia, Indonesia is the second biggest in term of the number of victim after Vietnam, said the WHO.

The virus is reported to have spread to Nigeria, Turkey and Iraq in recent weeks.

A huge population and territory have hampered effort to eliminate the virus in Indonesia, Minister of Agriculture Anton Apriantono has said.

Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country has 220 million population and 17,000 islands.

Source: Xinhua