Another suspected human case of bird flu has been reported in Indonesia's North Sumatra province despite the government's assurance that it is doing its utmost to bring the deadly virus under control, a newspaper reported Thursday.

A 35-year-old woman from Simalungun was admitted to Adam Malik Hospital in the provincial capital of Medan after showing symptoms of bird flu.

Simalungun is close to Karo regency where eight people in one family died after contracting H5N1 last May in the world's largest cluster of cases.

If proven positive, the woman may have contracted from chickens in her neighborhood which died suddenly and were tested positive for the disease, reported The Jakarta Post.

Almost all of the country's 62 confirmed human cases -- including 47 deaths, the world's highest -- have been traced to contact with infected poultry. Experts say human infection will only be brought under control when poultry outbreaks are reduced.

Head of Simalungun husbandry office S. Hutauruk said the spread of the virus in the regency was growing due to its location near Karo despite the implementation of preventative measures.

"We've culled over 24,000 chickens in 13 villages. This will continue in other areas," he said.

Besides Simalungun, Dairi and Deli Serdang regencies in North Sumatra are also widening their poultry culls after discovering infected fowl. There have been no reports of human deaths from the virus in the two regencies so far.

(China Daily August 24, 2006)