(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-24 16:19

Indonesia has detected the first outbreak of bird flu in tsunami-ravaged Aceh province where hundreds of chickens have died from the disease, the Agriculture Ministry said Thursday.

Bird flu has now been found in 23 of Indonesia's 30 provinces, said Sjamsul Bahri, the Agriculture Ministry's director of animal health. The deadly H5N1 strain has jumped from birds to humans, killing seven people in Indonesia.

But the emergence of the virus in Aceh — where tens of thousands of people still live in crowded refugee camps following the Dec. 26 tsunami — is especially worrisome.

Bahri said chickens have been infected with the H5N1 strain of the virus in at least three districts of the province. "Hundreds of chickens have died," he said.

Bird flu has killed hundreds of millions of birds in Asia since 2003, and has jumped to humans, killing at least 67 people in the region. Experts have warned the virus may mutate into a form that is easily passed between people and trigger a global pandemic.

Aceh was the area hardest hit by the tsunami. More than 130,000 people died in the province and another half million were left homeless.