Another person has died of bird flu in Indonesia, bringing the country’s toll to 102, health officials said Friday, as more cases of sick birds continue to appear across Asia.

A woman who lived near a poultry slaughterhouse in Tangerang, west of Jakarta, has died of bird flu, the health ministry said on Friday. She is the seventh person to die of bird flu this year, according to Reuters.

Another three people died this week: a 23-year-old woman from East Jakarta and a 9-year-old boy from the capital’s outskirts were confirmed as victims of the virus on Monday, while a 32-year-old man from Tangerang died on Tuesday at Jakarta's Persahabatan hospital, Indonesian health officials said.

Emil Agustiono, a top national bird flu committee official, was quoted earlier this week by Reuters as explaining that the recent increase in deaths is due to weather conditions and poor sanitation. “The virus is happy when it's wet. It thrives during the rainy season ... combine that with poor sanitation and lack of awareness. The people in the slums are at greater risk.”

The latest Indonesian victim of bird flu, aged 31, was being treated at a Jakarta hospital. She died of multiple-organ failure late on Thursday.

The woman is also another case where the source of infection remains unknown for the moment, although the poultry slaughterhouse she lived close to will probably be inspected by health officials.

“The woman lived in a neighborhood full of fowl. A slaughterhouse is not so far from her house,” Muhammad Nadirin of the bird flu centre told Reuters.

The vast majority of human deaths from bird flu have been linked with contact with contaminated poultry. Health authorities around the world have been adamant over the past years that people refrain from having contact with birds that could be sick and that they respect certain basic hygiene rules.

Indonesia now reports 102 deaths from bird flu, accounting for almost half of the total number of cases registered since 2003.

According to recent reports, more outbreaks are being reported in Pakistan, Tibet, India, Myanmar, Thailand and other Asian countries.

Hundreds of millions of birds have been slaughtered over the past years.