June 4 (Reuters) - A Chinese soldier has died from bird flu, taking the death toll from the virus in the world's most populous country to 16, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday.

China has had 25 laboratory-confirmed cases of bird flu, but this is the first death to be reported since March. Worldwide the virus has killed 188 people out of 309 known cases since it re-emerged in Hong Kong in 2003.

Hundreds of millions of birds have died or been culled.

Following is a list of confirmed human cases of H5N1. Total cases include survivors.

Deaths Total cases AZERBAIJAN 5 8 CAMBODIA 7 7 CHINA 16 25 DJIBOUTI 0 1 EGYPT 14 34 INDONESIA 78* 98* IRAQ 2 3 LAOS 2 2 NIGERIA 1 1 THAILAND 17 25 TURKEY 4 12 VIETNAM 42 93 ------------------------------------------------- TOTAL 188 309 -------------------------------------------------

Initial tests usually take a day or two to confirm if someone has H5N1. More detailed testing by government laboratories or those affiliated with the WHO can take a week or more.

The H5N1 virus remains mainly a virus of birds, but experts fear it could change into a form easily transmitted from person to person and sweep the world, killing millions.

So far, most human cases can be traced to direct or indirect contact with infected birds.

* The WHO has not yet formally updated its data to include one more death in Indonesia on June 1. 99 cases have now been confirmed to date in Indonesia, 79 have been fatal.

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