Indonesia recorded its first human deaths from bird flu Wednesday after tests confirmed that a man and his two daughters who died earlier this month were infected by the deadly virus.

Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari told reporters that the test results for the three family members were positive for avian influenza.

Indonesia said last week it suspected the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus for the deaths of Iwan Siswara, 39, and his two daughters - Thalita Nurul Azizah, 1, and Sabrina Nurul Aisyah, 9 - but blood samples were sent to Hong Kong for further laboratory tests.

"This morning I got confirmation that tests were positive, containing the H5N1 strain of bird flu," Supari said.

However, Supari said that the virus was conventional bird flu and "not a new strain and not transmitted from humans to humans", as some experts had feared.

Bird flu has swept through poultry populations in large swaths of Asia since 2003. Millions of chickens have either died or been slaughtered since the outbreak. Outside Indonesia, the virus has killed 38 people in Vietnam, 12 in Thailand and four in Cambodia.