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vian flu claimed its first human victims this year on Sunday night after two children from Jehem village, Bangli, passed away in Sanglah Central Hospital in Denpasar.

Five-year-old N.R. died at 8:20 p.m., while her 10-year-old brother, W.A., died at around midnight. The medical team has confirmed that the two children were infected with the avian flu virus based on the results of three tests at different labs.

The last recorded fatalities due to avian flu in Bali were in 2007, claiming the lives of two patients from Tabanan and Jembrana, data from the hospital showed.

From 2007 up to this month, the hospital has treated 58 patients suffering from avian flu.

IGB Ken Wirasandhi from the Sanglah Hospital’s avian flu treatment team said that the two children were referred from Bangli regional hospital with breathing difficulties.

“They were already in a severe condition and losing consciousness, and they had had fever for 12 days. We tried our best by implementing the protocol for handling avian flu patients, but they didn’t survive,” he said.

The victims’ bodies would be kept in the hospital’s morgue for a week because their family refused to cremate them right away as suggested by the medical team.

The team stated that bodies cremated immediately could prevent the possible further spread of the disease.

The family argued that it would not be possible for them to organize a cremation since their village was currently holding a religious temple festival.

Balinese Hinduism prohibits its adherents from organizing death-related rituals during major temple festivals.

Ken advised people to be alert to the spread of avian flu, especially in handling and cooking chicken. “It’s been four years since the last death from avian flu, but now it has emerged again,” he added.

The Husbandry Agency has conducted rapid tests of samples taken from dead poultry in the victims’ neighborhood, all of which showed negative results. It is now waiting for the results of further laboratory tests.

IGN Mahardika, a researcher of the avian flu virus, said Bali was still vulnerable to avian flu transmission due to ecological factors. He urged the Husbandry Agency to immediately send the samples taken during the rapid tests to a laboratory for more extensive tests.

“Laboratory research has shown that the virus remains H5N1, but it is necessary to keep studying the possibility of mutation,” he said.

‘We are also concerned that there might be human-to-human transmission, as is possible in the case of this brother and sister,” he added.

Previous research by veterinarian IGN Badiwangsa in Klungkung has concluded that the avian flu virus emerges at times when local people hold numerous religious celebrations. The celebrations usually increase the frequency of the transportation and slaughter of poultry, most of which is conducted in an unhygienic way.

Several rituals even stipulate the killing of poultry as sacrificial animals. The poultry is killed in front of many people and the blood is sprinkled onto the ground.

H5N1 is considered the most dangerous avian flu virus and has killed at least 331 people worldwide, according to World Health Organization data.

The data shows that Indonesia has the highest number of deaths from avian flu, with 146 fatalities between 2005 and 2011, followed by Vietnam with 59 and Egypt with 52.

It is feared the virus could turn into a pandemic resulting from human-to-human transmission. The worst outbreak of the influenza virus occurred in 1918. Known as Spanish Flu, it killed over 100 million people in a relatively short period, a number far greater than died in World War II.