At least 63 people have been infected with or are suspected to have contracted bird flu in Indonesia this year, a health official said.

"For the whole of Indonesia, a total of 63 people have been suspected of infection or diagnosed as infected with bird flu since the first human infection case was found," said the official.

Of the 63, six have died but further tests are still being carried out on the latest fatality to confirm that the victim died of the virus.

Some of those infected with the virus have not shown any symptoms and others have made a full recovery, officials said.

Bird flu has killed 43 in Vietnam, 12 in Thailand and four in Cambodia.

The health ministry official said that the 63 cases of bird flu could be broken down into three categories -- confirmed, probable and suspected cases.

A patient is suspected to have bird flu if the person showed clinical symptoms of the disease such as high fever, said Sardikin Giriputro, deputy director of Sulianti Saroso hospital, the main hospital treating bird flu patients.

Probable cases refer to those who have had initial tests that strengthened suspicion of infection, including X-rays showing that pneumonia had developed, he said.

Confirmed cases refer to cases which had been clinically and serologically tested positive, and had the results confirmed by the World Health Organisation through further tests in Hong Kong.

Only five of the 63 were confirmed bird flu cases, nine were probable cases, while the rest were suspected.

PHOTO CAPTION

A hospital pharmacist shows Tamiflu capsules, a medicine for bird flu victims in Jakarta. (AFP)