Indonesia: "Indonesia confirmed a second human bird-flu case in as many days, while at least six other people are being monitored in the hospital following contact with the patients," a health ministry official said.

"A 37-year-old woman in critical condition at Persahabatan Hospital in Jakarta is the latest to be infected with the H5N1 strain of avian influenza," said Runizar Ruesin, head of the ministry's avian flu information center.

"Her infection was confirmed late yesterday. She developed symptoms on Jan. 1 and was hospitalized five days later", Ruesin said today.

At least six others are being treated with the antiviral medicine oseltamivir at Persahabatan Hospital, said I Nyoman Kandun, the ministry''''s director general of disease control and environment. Health officials monitor suspected clusters of cases closely because they may signal the virus is becoming more adept at infecting humans, not just birds.

"We will wait for test results before raising an assumption of a possible cluster,''' Kandun said today.

"They are suffering from symptoms of regular influenza such as coughing and fever," he said.

Indonesia attracted international attention in May when seven members of a family from the island of Sumatra contracted the H5N1 virus, six of them fatally.

The cases represented the largest reported cluster of infections and the first laboratory- proven instance of human-to-human transmission.

"The H5N1 strain is known to have infected 261 people in 10 countries since 2003,killing 157 of them, the World Health Organization said on Dec. 27. Indonesia reported 57 fatalities, more than any other country," the WHO said.