A laboratory test showed that the bird flu strain that claimed three lives in Indonesia was a conventional one, H5N1. 'So it was not a new virus, so there is no need to worry about human-to-human transmission,' said the country's health minister.

"I got confirmation that tests on a specimen from Bapak (Mr.) Iwan were positive, containing the H5N1 strain of bird flu," Supari told Jakarta-based Metro TV.

When asked later in the day whether all three died from bird flu, she replied "Yes."

"I think they got infected at the same time. We still don't know how they got infected -- we are still doing a field investigation on that," Supari said.

Concerns over Human-to-Human Transmission

Iwan Siswara Rapei, 38, an official at the Supreme Audit Agency, 38, died July 12 at a hospital in the town of Tangerang in Banten Province, three days after the death of his 1-year-old daughter Thalita Nurul Azizah. His other daughter Sabrina Nurul Aisyah, 9, died Thursday last week.

Supari said Friday that bird flu was suspected in the deaths, adding that the lack of evidence that the three had contact with poultry raised concerns of human-to-human transmission.

The three, who began to receive treatment at the end of June, fell ill after Rapei returned from an official assignment in Hungary.

The minister said Wednesday that the laboratory test showed that the strain of the virus was a conventional one, namely H5N1.

"So it was not a new virus, so there is no need to worry about human-to-human transmission," she said.

She also said that several ministries would coordinate efforts to deal with the case and to develop necessary prevention measures.

Bird Flu Case in Pigs

Last month, the Indonesian government announced the first bird flu case in Indonesia, saying a farm worker in South Sulawesi Province had been exposed to the bird flu virus but was not infected by it.

Also in June, the Agriculture Ministry confirmed that it had found a bird flu case in pigs in Banten in the western part of Java Island, raising concerns that the deadly virus had taken a step closer to infecting humans in Indonesia.