As the government sought to qualify Wednesday's comments by Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari that the archipelago faced an "epidemic", a hospital official said the disease may have claimed one more life.

Awang Yunani, head of a hospital at Samarinda in East Kalimantan province, told local radio that a five-year-old boy died there from suspected bird flu. Samples from the boy have been sent to Jakarta for testing.

On Wednesday a five-year-old girl died in Jakarta's Sulianti Saroso Hospital showing symptoms of bird flu but Supari said Thursday that tests in Hong Kong have not yet confirmed bird flu as the cause of death.

A two-year-old girl who died Wednesday at a hospital in Jakarta could be another bird flu victim, Supari said.

"We say that only five persons were definitively positive. Four of them died and one is still alive," she told reporters.

The survivor is among 13 patients being treated for symptoms of bird flu at Jakarta's Sulianto Saroso Hospital, an increase from nine on Wednesday.

Ilham Patu, a doctor at the hospital, told SCTV that the latest three patients admitted had all visited Jakarta's Ragunan Zoo on Sunday, just before authorities closed it because of a bird flu outbreak among eagles and other birds.

A strain of bird flu known as H5N1 has killed 63 people in Southeast Asia since 2003, the majority of them in Vietnam. Indonesia's health ministry confirmed that the country's four victims died from H5N1.

The World Health Organization's biggest fear is that H5N1 may mutate, acquiring genes from the human influenza virus that would make it highly infectious and lethal to millions in a global pandemic.

On Wednesday Supari warned of more infections and told reporters: "This can be classified as an epidemic and most definitely there will be others as long as we are unable to positively identify the sources."

She qualified her statement on Thursday. "We are not yet in an epidemic but we should be aware that that can happen although we do not know when," she said.

The government on Monday gave bird flu "extraordinary incident" priority status to focus attention on the outbreak in the world's fourth most populous nation, where the first deaths occurred in July.

Among its measures, extraordinary status allows for the forced hospitalization of suspected bird flu patients.

Kartono Muhammad, a former chairman of the Indonesian Doctors' Association, criticized the move.

"To declare the extraordinary condition for the entire country is a bit too rash and will only lead to panic and fear among the population as well as people intending to travel to the country," he told AFP.

Jose Rizal Jurnalis, a doctor with the private Medical Emergency Rescue Committee, said public information campaigns could help stem infections.

"The government should be tireless in informing the public, through the media, of the dangers, possibilities and ways to prevent infection," he said.

Some public announcements about hygiene and the prevention of bird flu are already airing in the country where chickens roam at will through tightly-packed city neighbourhoods.

"Chickens and fowl are taken care of as if they are family members... Bird and fowl markets are widespread," the Kompas daily said in an editorial.

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