Nabiha Shahab, Jakarta – Bird flu has killed two young women in Indonesia, officials have said, taking fatalities this week to four in the country worst-hit by a disease scientists say could cause a human pandemic.

The women bought live chickens from a market on December 30 for the Muslim Eid festival but the birds later died suddenly, the Kompas daily quoted a health official as saying Saturday.

The women were admitted to Persahabatan hospital on Thursday. Zulfah, 27, and Ani Afriani, 22, died of acute pneumonia on Friday and Saturday respectively, health officials said, taking the overall death toll to 61.

The vast majority of bird flu cases have occurred after contact with infected poultry.

Officials had hoped that vaccinating poultry and increasing public awareness would eradicate human deaths from the disease in Indonesia this year.

Health minister Siti Fadilah Supari lashed out at local governments for failing to eliminate backyard farming from residential areas.

"I strongly called for local governments to make sure there was no poultry farming in residential areas," she said on ElShinta radio.

"The central government has done maximum effort, through mass media and non-governmental organisations, to help make sure people know how to prevent themselves from being infected by the deadly virus," she added.

She stressed that people would have to be actively involved in helping to prevent the spread of the virus amid fears of a cluster of cases after the husband and son of one of this week's victims, a 37-year-old woman, also fell ill.

She and a teenage boy were the first reported fatalities in Indonesia since November last year.

Persahabatan hospital is currently treating seven patients thought to have bird flu, including the husband and 18-year-old son.

The son's condition is worsening and he has been placed in an isolation unit, officials said, but his father is improving.

Poultry consumption usually increases during religious festivals. Indonesian Muslims celebrate Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, on December 31.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed more than 150 people worldwide since late 2003 and triggered the slaughter of tens of millions of poultry.

Scientists fear it could mutate into a form that could cause a human flu pandemic.

Efforts to curb the spread of the disease in Indonesia have been hampered by the reluctance of some poultry owners, especially backyard farmers, to hand over their sick or potentially infected birds for slaughter.

Indonesia last month announced a substantial increase in spending on the prevention of bird flu and pandemic preparedness. Total international and domestic funding has risen to 126.5 million dollars for 2007, up from 91 million last year.

Indonesia is continuing its "Beat the bird flu" campaign to raise public awareness and aims to restructure its poultry industry this year.