JAKARTA - A Indonesian man who slaughtered sick chickens and then ate them has died of bird flu, health officials said on Thursday, taking the country's human death toll to 80.

Bayu Krisnamurthi, the head of the country's commission on bird flu control, confirmed the latest death during a news conference.

Suharda Ningrum, of the health ministry's bird flu centre, said the man from Riau Province in Sumatra died on Tuesday.

He was admitted to the Arifin Achmad Hospital in Pekanbaru in Riau on Monday, hospital spokesman Nuzelly Husnedi said.

The spokesman said the man lived on a palm oil plantation in a remote area and had been in contact with sick fowl.

"He kept some chickens in his house. At least three died all of a sudden and he slaughtered the rest," said Husnedi, adding that the family then ate them and the man fell sick the next day.

"He suffered from high fever and had difficulty breathing."

Azizman Saad, head of the hospital's bird flu control section said the remaining family members were being monitored.

"His family has been examined and we are waiting for the results. So far, none have developed bird flu symptoms."

Contact with sick fowl is the most common way humans become infected with bird flu.

The disease is endemic in bird populations in most parts of Indonesia, where millions of backyard fowl are kept in close proximity to humans and where education campaigns often do not reach more remote areas.

Krisnamurthi said Indonesia's efforts to control the disease in animals were hobbled by a massive shortage of vaccines.

He said vaccine supplies were only enough for some 10 percent of backyard poultry and another 30 percent of small chicken farms.

"But aside from vaccines, Indonesia also lacks vaccination logistics such as equipment and human resources," he said.

Indonesia has had the highest number of human deaths in the world from the virus.

Including the latest fatality, there have been 191 deaths globally and 313 known infections in total, according to data from the World Health Organisation.

For the moment, the virus remains largely a disease in birds but scientists are worried about the virus's persistence and ability to adapt to new environments and hosts.

Scientists say H5N1 is a global threat because the virus could mutate into form that passes easily between people, triggering a pandemic in which millions could die.