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ENPASAR: A 12-year-old boy from Klungkung passed away just before dawn on Tuesday in Sanglah Central Hospital, the island’s primary referral facility for contagious disease. The hospital stated that the boy tested positive for avian influenza. This is the first confirmed case of the deadly disease in 2012.

“The patient was admitted to Sanglah on Monday night in a critical condition and displaying symptoms associated with avian influenza, including breathing difficulties,” Sanglah avian influenza team secretary IGB Ken Wirasandhi said, adding that the boy previously had been treated for five days at Denpasar’s Puri Raharja Hospital.

The boy was identified only as WM from Kerobokan, North Kuta. “PCR test confirms that he had avian influenza,”

The hospital is trying to establish the boy’s past association with poultry to determine where and when he contracted the deadly disease.

Provincial animal husbandry agency head Putu Sumantra said that a team had been dispatched to the victim’s house and home village to identify the source of infection.

The most recent cases of avian influenza in animals were reported in Buleleng and Badung. In Buleleng, infected poultry were found in Penarukan village, while in Badung, avian influenza-positive fowl were found in Semi-nyak, Abiansemal and Legian.

In 2011, as many as 57 people were treated for symptoms associated with avian influenza, two of whom passed away and were officially declared to have had avian influenza. The victims were two small children from Bangli. A few days later, their mother also passed away. Initially, the government stated that the mother had tested negative for avian influenza. Later, it revised its statement and said the test result was positive. But it did not include the mother in the official death toll. Since 1997, the disease has claimed five lives.