An Indonesian man plays with racing pigeons Tuesday at a market in Jakarta, Indonesia. A 16-year-old Indonesian boy has died from bird flu, according to local test results that, if confirmed, would bring Indonesia's death toll to 43 and make it the world's hardest-hit country.

Jakarta, Indonesia ? A 16-year-old boy in Indonesia died Monday from bird flu according to local test results that, if confirmed, would push the country’s death toll from the disease to the highest in the world.

Normally reliable tests performed at a local laboratory showed the boy had the H5N1 virus, said Dr. Santoso Suroso, the director of the capital’s infectious diseases hospital.

Health officials said he had come into contact with sick chickens at his home, just east of Jakarta.

If confirmed by a World Health Organization-accredited laboratory, the death would be Indonesia’s 43rd from the virus since July 2005, a third of which occurred this year.

Neighboring Vietnam is the second hardest hit at 42, but it has not recorded any deaths in 2006.

The teenager’s mother said her son, Megi Supatra, initially was diagnosed with a regular virus and told to go home.

It was only four days after his symptoms appeared that bird flu was suspected, and by then it was too late, said Sadiah, wiping back tears after her son’s funeral early Tuesday.

“I knew about bird flu from the TV and radio, but when my son got sick I had no clue it was bird flu,” she said. “I had no idea he was going to leave me.”