Indonesian representatives announced on Friday a possible human-to-human spread of the H5N1 bird flu virus in a family of six members. According to health officials, four of the six family members hospitalized with virus symptoms have been cleared of bird flu suspicions on Saturday.

The family suspected of H5N1 infestation comes from a small village called Serang, in the province of Banteng. The village, situated hours from the capital-city Jakarta, has been under surveillance since laboratory tests confirmed over 60 H5N1 bird deaths in the area.

Four of the family of six hospitalized in Jakarta on Friday tested negative for H5N1 virus, said Nyoman Kandun, director-general of communicable disease control at Indonesia’s health ministry (Reuters): “We are still awaiting test results for the remaining two to come out, but so far results have lowered fears of a cluster.”

On a global scale, Indonesia is known for its alarming number of human bird flu cases, that reached the highest peak in May 2006, when in the north of Sumatra province, seven members of the same family died of H5N1 infection.

This adds up to the already serious number of cases of human infections in Indonesia, which is at the top of the list worldwide, with 115 confirmed cases, out of which over 80 percent proved to be fatal.

Since 2003, there have been 340 cases of human bird flu all over the world, 208 of which have died. Despite the fact it is mainly an animal disease, experts are growing concern on the disaster a mutation would produce on the human population.

The growing number of human H5N1 infection cases grew awareness to different organizations to start taking measures in order to prevent a potential pandemic. Billions of dollars have been raised and spent for the research of H5N1 virus.