Indonesia ? Local tests showed a 7-year-old girl has died of bird flu, a health official said Friday, the latest in a series of cases that are putting Indonesia on pace to become the world’s hardest-hit country.

The World Health Organization has yet to confirm the death, which would bring the country’s official death toll from the H5N1 virus to 37.

The girl, from Pamulang on the outskirts of Jakarta, died late Thursday after apparently coming into contact with sick poultry, said Nyoman Kandun, a senior Health Ministry official.

The girl’s 10-year-old brother died Monday with similar flulike symptoms, but no samples were taken, said Dr. Hariadi Wibisono, a senior official at the national Health Department. The boy died in an emergency room before being treated, and the family immediately took him home for burial, he said.