JAKARTA - A 47-YEAR-OLD man from the outskirts of the Indonesian capital has been confirmed as the 115th person to be infected with bird flu, the health ministry said on Wednesday.

The man is being treated in a Jakarta hospital for the deadly disease, which has claimed 92 lives in Indonesia.

Two laboratory tests on the man showed that he was infected with the highly pathogenic virus, a statement from the ministry´s bird flu information centre said.

Two positive results of tests on blood and tissue samples from a victim are needed before Indonesian authorities can confirm a bird flu infection.

The man, who is from the satellite city of Tangerang, was first admitted to a private hospital there on December 5, three days after he began to feel ill.

He was referred to the Jakarta hospital on December 10.

The ministry statement said it had not confirmed if the man had any contact with infected poultry.

The virus is usually transmitted to humans from infected birds.

Scientists fear however that the virus could mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans, sparking a global pandemic that could kill millions.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed more than 200 people worldwide since late 2003. But the number of human infections and deaths declined this year over last year.

Forty-eight people died of the infection in 2007, down from 71 in 2006, according to the World Health Organisation, and experts said outbreaks were also being detected more rapidly and responses have become more effective.

Twenty-six countries reported flu outbreaks in birds in 2007, of which four experienced them for the first time. -- AFP