Re: INDONESIA - BF in PIGS in Bali
Jakarta Post
ossibility of avian influenza epidemic a worry
Interview with Mahardika, the researcher on Bali
Possibility of avian influenza epidemic a worry
I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar
It seems that Bali is not only a paradise for vacationers, but also for H5N1, the dangerous virus known as avian influenza, or bird flu.
While visitors seek a memorable experience, the virus is struggling simply to ensure the survival of its kind.
It may not be appropriate to bracket the leisure of the tourism industry with the menace of the avian influenza epidemic. It certainly is not a pretty comparison.
"Pretty or not, it is a fact that we are all have to deal with right now," Ngurah Mahardika stated.
Mahardika is the team leader of the Avian Influenza Detection and Identification Program, an ongoing, government-funded project carried out by the school of veterinary medicine at Udayana University.
Since late 2005, Mahardika and his team have conducted extensive surveys in Bali, West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa Tenggara, searching for the dangerous virus.
The results are scary:
The virus has infected poultry populations in 37 of the total 55 subdistricts in Bali. "We took samples in 152 villages and we found infected poultry population in 53 villages," he said.
The bad news didn't stop there.
Recently, following a series of tests on 800 pigs across the island, his team has identified over 20 pigs infected by the virus. Back in 2005, when they tested 400 pigs, no infection was found.
Being a virus expert -- he holds a PhD in molecular virology from Germany's Justus-Leibig University -- Mahardika knows perfectly well the dangerous implications of that recent development.
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It means that the virus has succeed in inching closer to the human population," he said.
So far, there hasn't been any reported case of the virus infecting the human population of the island. Yet, it is a grave, tragic error to think that it will forever ignore an opportunity to infect a new host.
"Honestly speaking, I'm now very worried about such a possibility," he confessed.
Unfortunately, the majority of the island's human population still does not view avian influenza as an immediate, growing threat.
The island is not properly prepared to tackle a possible avian influenza epidemic.
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The problem is the prevailing atmosphere of indifference. Many people have mistakenly assumed that avian influenza does not pose a grave threat to the island," he said.
Sadly, such indifference has also persisted among the majority of the island's media outlets, public institutions and government agencies.
Their levels of apathy are not similar, but the end result is the same.
The general public's lack of awareness of avian influenza, the lack of effective, standardized and island-wide detection and prevention measures, and the lack of an emergency response management are some of the results of such apathy.
"We don't have any kind of scenario, let alone a worst-case one. We don't know which parts of the island are the most vulnerable, the speed of the viral transmission or how many people will have been infected before we will be able to effectively contain the epidemic," said a doctor, who declined to be named.
Being the only health service provider in a rural village in northern Badung, he was quite afraid that the village didn't stand a chance against the epidemic.
"There are a large number of chicken farms in the village. The human population is quite dense. It's not rocket science to realize that this village is vulnerable to the epidemic," he said.
"At the same time, we don't have enough manpower, facilities and medical supplies to carry out an emergency operation if there is an outbreak of avian influenza," he explained.
To a large extent, the village is a miniature version of the island. The poultry population on the island totals over 12 million while the pig population is around 900,000.
The island is also populated by 3.4 million people.
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Bali is densely populated by poultry, pigs and humans: All have been positively identified as possible hosts for H5N1," Mahardika said.
"Bali bears disturbing similarities to various dense areas in China. Such density provides the virus with a paradise, where they could duplicate as many times as they wish," he added.
The density factor is further aggravated by two particular practices commonly employed by poultry and pig farmers in Bali.
One practice -- letting ducks search for food in newly harvested paddy fields -- exposes the ducks to probable transmission from migratory wild birds.
"Paddy fields are the primary source of food for migratory wild birds. The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified such creatures as the primary agent of transmission of the avian influenza among poultry populations," Mahardika stated.
Moreoever, Tumpang Sari, a practice of keeping pigs and poultry in the same spot, has increased the possibility of the virus "jumping" from one species to another -- poultry to pig.
"The danger of having the virus in pigs is that the pig could serve as a host for various subtypes of the virus," he said.
"In pigs, the subtypes could also get involved in a 'reassortment' process to adapt themselves with the new non-poultry host," he said.
Moreover, it has been known that pigs could also be infected by the human influenza virus. If avian and human viruses are mixed and reassorted inside the pig, the results could be devastating.
They will either produce a more powerful version of the old viruses or new viruses with a lethal ability to penetrate the barriers.
"The mixing and reassortment process will make it easier for the virus to get into the next available host -- human beings," he pointed out.
The only hope, Mahardika believed, lies in community-based prevention and detection programs. In the absence of an island-wide, government-initiated prevention measure, the powerful traditional institutions, such as desa pekraman (traditional villages) and banjar (neighborhood organizations), are the only institutions that could mobilize the Balinese to act in unison.
"The key to dealing with an epidemic is detection and prevention. We must educate and empower the traditional institutions to perform those actions," he said.
Moreover, pecalang (traditional security guards) could be assigned with another responsibility: supervising the poultry and pig farms and keeping a close tab on poultry trade and transport.
The role of pecalang will be particularly significant since the government's much-publicized measure of prohibiting the transportation of live poultry into the island ended in failure.
Through bribery and ingenuity, the poultry traders managed to send poultry from Java and Lombok into Bali on a regular basis. "Every day they unload live poultry from Java in a street in west Denpasar," said Putu Tapa, a resident of that area.
Mahardika believes that the education and empowerment of the traditional institutions will play a critical role in warding off the threat.
"With support from those institutions there is a huge possibility that we will be able to prevent the occurrence of an outbreak or confine the outbreak to a limited geographical area," he said.
Education and empowerment are effective ways to wipe out the general public's indifference toward the threat of avian influenza.
After all, public indifference is borne out of a lack of knowledge.
Mahardika, however, still has to deal with another kind of indifference; that which has been borne out of fear and greed.
Many, including government officials, have accused him of tainting the island's image as a prime tourist destination. They argue that Mahardika has made a lot of fuss over an empty threat and, by doing so, had damaged the island's tourism industry.
"They are afraid that tourists will not visit the island if they know about the possibility of an avian influenza outbreak," Mahardika said.
Mahardika doesn't see it that way. As a responsible host for tourists, he argued, the Balinese should make sure that their guests are well-protected from any harm.
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If we can show the world that we have taken any necessary precaution to protect the island and its human population -- the foreigners as well as the natives -- I believe that it will boost, instead of degrade, the image of our tourism industry," he said.
Denials and cover-ups, on the other hand, are simply fruitless.
"History has taught us that viral epidemics move swiftly, mercilessly and indiscriminately. If such an epidemic takes place in Bali, even the mightiest of the tourism industry's public relation agency will not be able to salvage the island's image," he warned.
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"Till at this time in Bali did not yet have bird flu infected the pig. That would just the temporary assumption of the team of the researcher Unud. We with BPPV also has taken sample, but not yet in the conclusion of the existence jangkitan to the pig," said Raka toned denied it, to this newspaper, yesterday. His side will only trust results of the laboratory that the implementation personally. Nevertheless his side continued to guard against the possibility of the occurrence of the mutation of bird flu to the other animal. "Our target precisely made Bali the free area of bird flu," he stated. Because that of various anticipation was carried out. As expediting the vaccination against the poultry and the banning of the entry of the poultry from outside Bali.