Gert van der Hoek
In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator
Update here: http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14931
Bird Flu Kills Indonesian Boy;
By Karima Anjani and Zhang Dingmin
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Bird flu killed a 14-year-old boy in Indonesia, and China reported its first human case in five months. Officials in Azerbaijan are investigating a possible outbreak in poultry.
The teenage boy from West Jakarta died today, three days after testing positive for the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, said I Nyoman Kandun, the health ministry's director general of disease control and environment.
Tests were negative on six patients suspected of being infected, ``ruling out the possibility of a cluster'' of cases, Kandun told reporters.
Health officials monitor suspected clusters closely because they may signal the virus is becoming more adept at infecting humans, not just birds. Millions could die if H5N1 becomes easily transmissible between people, sparking a lethal pandemic.
The H5N1 strain is known to have infected 263 people in 10 countries since 2003, killing three of every five of them, the World Health Organization said yesterday. Indonesia has reported more avian-flu fatalities than any other country. The latest death is the country's 58th, Kandun said.
Concern over a possible pandemic has prompted governments to stockpile flu treatments, including vaccines aimed at protecting people against a worldwide outbreak sparked by H5N1.
Indonesia and Baxter International Inc., the world's biggest maker of blood-disease products, are developing a vaccine based on H5N1 variant circulating in the Southeast Asian nation, Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said today.
``Clinical trials of the vaccine are underway and will take between three and six months,'' Supari told reporters. ``We will need around 2 million doses'' initially, she said.
Indonesia also plans to increase its supply of the antiviral drug oseltamivir to 15 million doses this year from 12 million in 2006, Supari said. Oseltamivir is in the active ingredient in Roche Holding AG's Tamiflu medicine.
To contact the reporters on this story: Karima Anjani in Jakarta at kanjani@bloomberg.net ; Zhang Dingmin in Beijing at Dzhang14@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: January 10, 2007 03:06 EST
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601202&sid=awk_4qXJi_CA&refer=healthcare
Bird Flu Kills Indonesian Boy;
By Karima Anjani and Zhang Dingmin
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Bird flu killed a 14-year-old boy in Indonesia, and China reported its first human case in five months. Officials in Azerbaijan are investigating a possible outbreak in poultry.
The teenage boy from West Jakarta died today, three days after testing positive for the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, said I Nyoman Kandun, the health ministry's director general of disease control and environment.
Tests were negative on six patients suspected of being infected, ``ruling out the possibility of a cluster'' of cases, Kandun told reporters.
Health officials monitor suspected clusters closely because they may signal the virus is becoming more adept at infecting humans, not just birds. Millions could die if H5N1 becomes easily transmissible between people, sparking a lethal pandemic.
The H5N1 strain is known to have infected 263 people in 10 countries since 2003, killing three of every five of them, the World Health Organization said yesterday. Indonesia has reported more avian-flu fatalities than any other country. The latest death is the country's 58th, Kandun said.
Concern over a possible pandemic has prompted governments to stockpile flu treatments, including vaccines aimed at protecting people against a worldwide outbreak sparked by H5N1.
Indonesia and Baxter International Inc., the world's biggest maker of blood-disease products, are developing a vaccine based on H5N1 variant circulating in the Southeast Asian nation, Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said today.
``Clinical trials of the vaccine are underway and will take between three and six months,'' Supari told reporters. ``We will need around 2 million doses'' initially, she said.
Indonesia also plans to increase its supply of the antiviral drug oseltamivir to 15 million doses this year from 12 million in 2006, Supari said. Oseltamivir is in the active ingredient in Roche Holding AG's Tamiflu medicine.
To contact the reporters on this story: Karima Anjani in Jakarta at kanjani@bloomberg.net ; Zhang Dingmin in Beijing at Dzhang14@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: January 10, 2007 03:06 EST
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601202&sid=awk_4qXJi_CA&refer=healthcare
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