An Indonesian man who had been suffering from bird flu for days died early today to take Indonesia's death toll from the disease to 52.
The man's brother died with bird flu symptoms on Sunday, but due to lack of testing there has been no positive confirmation he had the disease. A third sibling, a 15-year old girl, is being treated in hospital.
Relatives of the three siblings are also being tested. The disease spread into the family when a member brought chickens with the virus to their house.
Indonesia has more bird flu deaths than any other country. The government has faced criticism for not doing enough to combat the disease, endemic in birds in almost all provinces in the archipelago of 17,000 islands.
Unlike other bird flu-affected nations such as Thailand, culling poultry is not easy in Indonesia because of fierce opposition from farmers and the logistical difficulties in dealing with millions of backyard fowl.
The virus mainly affects birds, but experts fear it could mutate into a strain capable of killing millions of people in a global pandemic.