JAKARTA : Two women have died of bird flu in Indonesia and there is another confirmed case, officials said Saturday, bringing the death toll to 61 in the country hit hardest by the disease.

The women were both admitted to Persahabatan hospital Thursday and were later confirmed as suffering from bird flu by health officials.

Zulfah, 27, died at 22:30pm Friday (1530 GMT) and Ani Afriani, 22, died at 12:20am Saturday, becoming Indonesia's third and fourth avian flu fatalities this week.

An 18-year-old, who officials said killed a sick chicken, has also been confirmed with the disease and is in an isolation unit with their condition unknown.

On December 30 "they bought live chickens from the market for the Eid festival. Around the patients' homes, many chickens died suddenly", health official I Nyoman Kandun reportedly told the Kompas daily, referring to the two women victims.

The latest cases follow the deaths of a 37-year-old woman and a 14-year-old boy over the past few days.

The vast majority of bird flu cases have occurred after contact with infected poultry.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed more than 150 people worldwide since late 2003 and has triggered the slaughter of tens of millions of poultry.

There are also fears it could mutate into a form that could cause a human flu pandemic.

Efforts to curb the spread of the disease in Indonesia have been hampered by the reluctance of some poultry owners, especially backyard farmers, to hand over their sick or potentially infected birds for slaughter.

Indonesia last month announced a substantial increase in spending on prevention of bird flu and pandemic preparedness, with total international and domestic funding rising to 126.5 million dollars for 2007, up from 91 million last year.

Officials had said their strategy of vaccinating poultry and increasing public awareness appeared to be paying off and they were aiming at zero cases of human bird flu this year.

Indonesia is continuing its "Beat the bird flu" campaign to raise public awareness, and this year aims to restructure the poultry industry. - AFP/ch