The death toll of human bird flu in Indonesia increased to 37 Monday after the World Health Organization confirmed that a boy had got H5N1 virus, a senior health ministry official said.

Tests for the 18-year-old boy, who died May 23 at a hospital in Bandung, capital of west Java province, showed positive from a WHO- sanctioned laboratory in Hong Kong, local press Tuesday quoted I Nyoman Kandun, director general of disease control and environmental health of the Indonesian Health Ministry, as saying.

The number of bird flu cases in Indonesia has climbed to 47, he added.

Bird flu has killed at least 125 people worldwide since it began ravaging Asian poultry stocks in late 2003.

Source: Xinhua