JAKARTA (Reuters) - A 16-year-old Indonesian girl has diedof bird flu, taking the country's confirmed human death tollfrom the virus to 96, a health ministry official said onTuesday.

The girl from Bekasi area east of Jakarta tested positivefor bird flu last week, said the official at the HealthMinistry's bird flu centre.

"One of the girl's neighbors owns a chicken farm. Tests bythe agriculture ministry's bird flu centre show the chickenshad bird flu," said the official, who declined to beidentified.

Contact with sick fowl is the most common way ofcontracting bird flu, endemic in bird populations in most ofIndonesia.

Although bird flu remains an animal disease, experts fearthe virus could mutate into a form easily passed from human tohuman and kill millions.

A 32-year-old woman from Tangerang near Jakarta, who boughta live chicken and some eggs from a market, died of bird flu ather home last Thursday.

On Christmas day, a 24-year-old woman from Jakarta alsodied from the virus after buying a live chicken from a market.

Indonesia has had the most number of deaths from bird fluof any country.

(Reporting by Fitri Wulandari, editing by Sugita Katyal)