Three Indonesians die of bird flu

Indonesia has been hit hardest by bird flu

Three people in Indonesia have died from bird flu, taking the country's death toll to 69, health officials say.

The virus claimed the lives of a boy aged 15, a 22-year-old woman and a 40-year-old man in separate parts of the country, the health ministry said.

Indonesia has the world's highest death toll from the disease.

Jakarta reached an agreement with the World Health Organisation on Tuesday to resume sharing samples of the bird flu virus for research.

The Indonesian government had called a halt to the sample sharing in December amid concern that they would be used by drug firms to produce costly vaccines that developing countries could not afford.

But, after two days of talks, WHO officials said they had "struck a balance" between the need to continue sharing the virus samples and addressing the concerns of poorer nations.

Under the deal, drugs companies will require the consent of countries to access their virus samples.

Bird lover

Indonesia's health ministry said tests had confirmed the three deaths.

The 22-year-old woman died on Saturday in southern Sumatra, followed by the teenage boy in West Java on Sunday and the 40-year-old man in East Java on Wednesday.

One health ministry official told Reuters news agency the man from East Java had been a bird lover.

"On March 11, his and neighbours' chickens died suddenly. The test showed that they were infected by avian flu," Muhammad Nadirin said.

Since the H5N1 virus emerged in South East Asia in late 2003, it has claimed nearly 170 lives around the world.

There are fears the virus could mutate to a form which could be easily passed from human to human, triggering a pandemic and potentially putting millions of lives at risk.