I Nyoman Kandun, head of the ministry's communicable diseases control center, told RIA Novosti that all the victims were patients at St. Carolus Hospital, in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.
The latest case was registered November 27, but until now the outbreak has not raised concerns about the emergence of a new, potentially lethal infection similar to last year's avian flu epidemic, which killed more people in Indonesia than in any other country of the Asian-Pacific region.
The newly discovered disease is characterized by a high fever, which usually leads to the patient's death within three days of its onset.
Kandun said researchers still cannot explain why last year's outbreak affected patients of just one hospital.
According to him, ministry officials are keeping the St. Carolus clinic under close scrutiny, and are trying to identify the pathogen involved.
Blood samples of those affected have been sent for tests to the U.S. National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID), headquartered in Atlanta, GA.
