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JAKARTA, Aug 16 (Reuters) - A 17-year-old Indonesian girl has died of bird flu, taking the country's death toll from the virus to 83, a health ministry official said on Thursday.

Her death comes days after a 29-year-old woman living on Bali died of the disease, becoming the resort island's first known human fatality from the H5N1 virus.

The 17-year-old maid from Tangerang west of Jakarta died on Tuesday after falling ill with a high fever last week, Joko Suyono of the ministry's bird flu centre said by telephone.

The most common way for humans to become infected with the H5N1 virus is through contact with sick fowl, but officials were still investigating how she contracted the disease.

"She suffered from high fever and breathing difficulties," ministry official Muhammad Nadirin said by telephone.

The victim's employer told hospital director Maruzzaman Naim that the girl, who came from Cilacap in Central Java, had only been working for three months in the area.

Officials were still investigating how she came in contact with sick fowl.

"There were no fowl in the neighbourhood. The family doesn't keep any and she had no direct contact with chickens," Naim said by telephone.

Bird flu is endemic in bird populations in most parts of Indonesia, where millions of backyard chickens are kept in close proximity to people.

Indonesia has had 104 confirmed human cases from bird flu out of which 83 had been fatal, the highest death toll for any country in the world.

Excluding the latest death, there have been 320 confirmed human cases and 193 deaths globally, according to World Health Organisation data.

Experts fear if the virus develops the ability to pass easily between humans, millions might die in a pandemic.

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