A 15-year-old Indonesian girl, from central Jakarta, was suspected of having avian influenza, as an initial laboratory test showed that she was positive of the disease, Indonesian Health Ministry said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The health officials were waiting for the result of the second laboratory test for confirmation that she was positively contracted by the pathogenic H5N1 virus, an official of the anti- bird flu center of the ministry Joko Suyono said.

The girl was first admitted to the Catholic Hospital in the city on March 30, two days after she suffered from the germs of the disease of high fever, and pneumonia, said the official.

Then on Monday, the patient was transferred to a designed-bird flu hospital of Persahabatan in East Jakarta, he said.

The initial test showed that she was positive of bird flu, Suyono told Xinhua.

The official said that she had historical contacts with animals, as she has looked after chickens and birds.

Should the second test is positive, she will be the 93rd person contracted by the virus.

The number of bird flu cases in Indonesia has increased recently after months of absence of new cases.

The country has agreed to cooperate by sharing its bird flu virus samples with the World Health Organization for scientific purpose.

Indonesian health authorities have imposed a firm policy separating fowls from human and surveillance on the viruses.

The authorities forbid raising fowls in residential areas.

But the implementation of the policy seem does not work, as the authorities in the most of 32 provinces in the country have failed to put it into effect, Indonesian Health Ministry Siti Fadilah Sufari told Xinhua.

Official from the home affair ministry said that lack of funds, human resources and fluctuated weather were among the obstacles to decline the spread of the disease.

Over 32 million families in Indonesia's vast archipelago have raising chickens on back yard, Indonesian Agriculture Minister Anton Apriantono has said.

Experts have warned international community of the risks of the disease should Indonesia fail to prevent the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus from spreading.

Millions of people can be killed should the highly pathogenic H5N1 mutate into a certain level, which can make it transmittable among humans.

The huge territory, back-yard centered farming and relatively lack budget have hampered the authorities in the country to fighting avian influenza.

Asia has been hit, the hardest, with 139 out the 155 human deaths arising from bird flu since 2003 occurring in East Asia countries, according to the data from the World Bank.

Source: Xinhua