A chicken vendor waits for customers at a market in Jakarta (File Photo)

Officials in Indonesia say another person has died from bird flu, bringing the country's death toll from the disease to 96 since the outbreak started in 2003.

The latest victim was a 16-year-old girl from the town of Bekasi, on the eastern outskirts of Jakarta. Officials say she died Tuesday.

Monday, officials reported that a 32-year-old woman from an area just west of Jakarta died of bird flu last week, at her home in the city of Tangerang. A statement from the health ministry said the woman's family kept chickens in their backyard.

Humans are usually infected with bird flu by direct contact with infected poultry, but experts fear the H5N1 virus may mutate into a form easily transmitted between people.

Scientists fear such a mutation could spark a global pandemic with a potential death toll of millions.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.