Indonesia Human Cases Feb 8 to March 14, 2006

[HenryN]

Re: Indonesia concerned about bird flu cluster cases

Re: Indonesia concerned about bird flu cluster cases

[FONT=Helvetica, Arial]Ministers sound alarm over bird flu
[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, Arial]http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060216.A04&irec=9[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Rendi Akhmad Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]With more human cases of bird flu being reported in the country, ministers warn the virus may be mutating into a more virulent form that is capable of being transmitted from human to human.[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]"The amount of time between contracting the virus and death is becoming shorter, raising the possibility the virus is becoming more virulent," Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said Wednesday before a limited Cabinet meeting with governors from five provinces to discuss efforts to combat bird flu. The meeting comes at a time of increased criticism over the government's perceived failure to respond to the crisis with the necessary speed or force. [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Of the 26 people who have tested positive for the H5N1 form of the avian influenza virus since last year at a World Health Organization-accredited laboratory in Hong Kong, 18 have died. Eight of these cases have occurred this year, with seven fatalities. Most of the victims raised poultry or lived in areas where poultry was common. [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Indonesia has reported the second-highest number of human bird flu cases in the world, and has suffered the second-highest number of fatalities. [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari said the country had experienced the highest number of bird flu cluster fatalities, which involve the infection of people living near one another. There have been six cluster fatalities reported here. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]"The more cluster fatalities the greater the possibility for the virus to mutate into a form that can be easily transmitted among humans, triggering a pandemic," Siti said after the meeting. [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Coordinating Minister for Public Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said after the meeting that in addition to culling sick poultry within a one-kilometer radius of all reported human bird flu cases and vaccinating all poultry within a three-kilometer radius, the government also would begin next week going door-to-door looking for infected fowl in five provinces. [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]These provinces -- Jakarta, Banten, West Java, Central Java and Lampung -- have reported the highest number of human bird flu cases and infected poultry. [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]"President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has instructed the governors (of the five provinces) to inspect backyard poultry farms and limit contact between the birds and people living nearby," he said. [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]According to a report from the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization, 30 million village households in Indonesia are keeping around 200 million chickens, excluding wild birds. [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Anton said the governors also were told to order poultry farmers to cage their birds, to reduce contact with humans.[/FONT]

 

[Theresa42]

Two Indonesians suspected of bird flu infection die - hospital official

Two Indonesians suspected of bird flu infection die - hospital official

Two Indonesians suspected of bird flu infection die - hospital official
02.16.2006, 12:52 AM

JAKARTA (AFX) - Two Indonesians suffering symptoms of avian influenza died on Thursday after being treated for a day at the country's main hospital for bird flu patients, a spokesman for the hospital said.

The 15-year-old girl and 27-year-old man died within hours of each other after being admitted to the Sulianti Saroso hospital in the capital early Wednesday, a spokesman for the hospital, Ilham Patu, said.

He said local tests had yet to show whether they were infected with the H5N1 virus but if they did, officials would then ask a World Health Organisation (WHO)-affiliated laboratory in Hong Kong to confirm the findings.

If they are positive, it would bring the number of fatal cases in Indonesia this year alone to nine -- the highest reported globally.

Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari warned yesterday that Indonesia's high number of so-called cluster bird flu cases was increasing the possibility of the virus mutating into a more pathogenic form.

A senior health ministry official has said Indonesia has seen five of the so-called cluster cases, which refers to infections among people living in close proximity to each other.

'More cluster cases usually means there has been a genetic mutation or change. This means the possibility of human-to-human transmission is near,' the health minister said.

Experts fear that H5N1 could mutate into a form easily transmissible by humans, sparking a global pandemic with the potential to kill millions.

Indonesia's overall death toll from the virus rose to 18 last weekend, with two more sets of positive test results returned

http://www.forbes.com/finance/feeds/afx/2006/02/16/afx2530893.html

 

[Clytie]

Re: Indonesia concerned about bird flu cluster cases

Re: Indonesia concerned about bird flu cluster cases

Archive Number
20060215.0498Published Date15-FEB-2006SubjectPRO/AH/EDR> Avian influenza, human - worldwide (06):

Indonesiahttp://www.promedmail.org/pls/promed/f?p=2400:1001:17774626102190080002::NO::F2400_P1001_BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,32024AVIAN

INFLUENZA, HUMAN - WORLDWIDE (06): INDONESIA

A ProMED-mail postProMED-mail is a program of theInternational Society for Infectious Diseases

Date: Wed 15 Feb 2006

From: Mary Marshall Source: Bloomberg New Agency, Wed 15 Feb 2006 [edited]

Indonesia: Number of Human Avian Influenza Cases Rising

-Indonesia's human cases of avian influenza are occurring with increasing frequency, prompting the government to step up monitoring efforts aimed at slowing the spread of the virus among animals, the agriculture minister said. Humans are contracting the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus at a faster pace, causing more deaths, Agriculture Minister Anton Apriantono told reporters in Jakarta before attending a cabinet meeting on bird flu, without elaborating. "We will step up preventive efforts, be more proactive. We will do checking even on areas that haven't seen any cases of dead poultry. Information dissemination about bird flu will be stepped up."Indonesia has the 2nd-highest number of avian influenza cases among humans in the world. [As of 13 Feb 2006, Viet Nam has 93 laboratory-confirmed cases, with 42 deaths. - Mod.CP]. The H5N1 virus has killed at least 18 people of the 25 people it has infected in Indonesia. Health authorities say they are concerned the virus will mutate into a form easily transmitted among humans, causing a deadly global pandemic. The country's suspected 6th cluster of human infections, involving 2 adults and their 2-year-old daughter, has heightened concerns. "We have the highest [number of] clusters in the world. And the higher the number of clusters, the higher possibility of human to human (infection)," Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari told reporters before attending the same meeting.The World Health Organization has said public awareness about the dangers of handling diseased poultry needs to be increased, particularly in urban areas where there is a greater density of both human and fowl populations. About 30 million households in villages live alongside more than 200 million fowl.Indonesia aims to raise the number of designated bird flu hospitals to 100 from 44 by the end of this year [2006] and plans to boost stocks of the antiviral Tamiflu, Minister of People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said on Tue 14 Feb 2006.

--ProMED-mail

[It should not be assumed that the higher the number of apparent clusters of human infections the greater the possibility of human-to-human transmission of infection. The evidence so far suggests that humans predominantly contract infection directly from diseased poultry, and that clusters merely indicate a common source of infection. Since virus mutations occur more or less at random, in the absence of an external directional force, the probability of evolution of a mutant virus transmissible among humans is related more to the total number of replications of the viral genome (in both fowl and/or humans) rather than the number of clusters of human infections. The greater risk of emergence of a human pandemic virus remains interaction between the avian H5N1 virus and a conventional human influenza virus by recombination or reassortment of genome sub-units. - Mod.CP].

<snip>

 

[Mellie]

6 clusters so far... Indonesia worries about inter-human bird flu spread

6 clusters so far... Indonesia worries about inter-human bird flu spread

Indonesia worries about inter-human bird flu spread

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200602/17/eng20060217_243626.html

Indonesian health officials have expressed worries about the likelihood of human-to-human bird flu virus transmission due to the growing cases of bird flu clusters, a newspaper said Friday.

Cluster cases, which is growing rapidly in the country, are defined as several members of a household or neighborhood falling sick at the same time.

"We can't guess when the spread of the virus among humans will occur because it will need a thorough examination of the source of the virus from each patient in a cluster," the spokesman and head of the bird flu surveillance unit at Jakarta's Sulianti Saroso Hospital, Ilham Patu, was quoted by The Jakarta Post as saying.

"But the fact that we have more and more cases of bird flu clusters shows that we are very close to having one."

Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari said Wednesday the country had the highest number of bird flu cluster fatalities in the world, with six reported so far. Indonesia also has the world's highest mortality percentage, with 18 fatalities of the 26 people who have tested positive for the H5N1 virus since July last year.

The minister said the virus appeared to be more virulent and there was a growing probability of human-to-human transmission.

The World Health Organization said it had not found any evidence of changing characteristics of the virus' transmission here.

"We still have Indonesia at level three. Although it means the bird flu virus still comes from animal (hosts), we don't rule out the imminent possibility that limited viral transmission between humans could occur," WHO public relations officer Sari Setiogi said.

Source: Xinhua

 

[sharon sanders]

New H5N1 Chicken Cases in Java

New H5N1 Chicken Cases in Java



[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]February 18, 2006[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, helvetica]Spread of avian flu jumps in West and Central Java [/FONT]

Yuli Tri Suwarni and Suherdjoko,
The Jakarta Pos, /Bandung, Semarang
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060218.A01&irec=0


Officials are planning emergency measures to deal with a worrisome spike in the incidence of avian bird flu in densely populated West and Central Java.

"Almost no region (in West Java) is free from bird flu infection," Fatimah Resmiati of the West Java health office told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Data from the office showed that chickens tested positive for the deadly H5N1 virus in 17 of the 25 regencies in West Java, while human infection has been found in 12 regencies.

Resmiati blamed the fast spread of the virus on the limited control of the traffic of live chickens in West Java.

"In the period from September 2005 to Feb. 14, 2006, up to 50 people were suspected of being infected with the bird flu virus, of whom 15 died, with 10 confirmed as positive for the virus," she said.

West Java Governor Danny Setiawan was scheduled to hold an emergency meeting on curbing the spread of bird flu on Monday with all regents and mayors.

In Central Java, representatives from the province's 35 regencies will be invited to a ceremony for the avian flu eradication campaign in Ungaran, Semarang regency, on Wednesday.

Central Java Deputy Governor Ali Mufiz said in Semarang on Thursday that the government would go ahead with its plan to undergo mass culling of infected chickens.

"We are still in the process of collecting data. Like the mass culling in 2005, this year's culling has to be conducted selectively," he said.

Central Java Governor Mardiyanto also confirmed in Surakarta that mass culling would be conducted in five regencies -- Boyolali, Klaten, Karanganyar, Sukoharjo and Sragen -- where 151,000 of 161,640 chickens tested positive for the virus.

"However, there is no need for the public to worry about the culling as the government will provide compensation for the culled chickens," he said.

The provincial administration earmarked Rp 32 billion (US$3.45 million) for the culling, with farmers compensated Rp 10,000 for each chicken killed.

The Central Java health office will also distribute 12 million bird flu vaccine samples this year, more than double the amount of 5 million distributed last year.

The bird flu virus has killed at least 90 people worldwide since the end of 2003 and 18 in Indonesia.

The increasing number of birth flu deaths in the country prompted the government last November to deploy troops and volunteers to conduct door-to-door checks for fowl infected with the virus. The search was first concentrated in Greater Jakarta and areas deemed "difficult" for officials to detect the avian influenza virus.

 

[sharon sanders]

More Chicken Cases in Java 2/18/06

More Chicken Cases in Java 2/18/06

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Print[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica]February 18, 2006[/FONT][FONT=Arial, helvetica]Spread of avian flu jumps in West and Central Java [/FONT]Yuli Tri Suwarni and Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Pos, /Bandung, Semarang
Officials are planning emergency measures to deal with a worrisome spike in the incidence of avian bird flu in densely populated West and Central Java.

"Almost no region (in West Java) is free from bird flu infection," Fatimah Resmiati of the West Java health office told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Data from the office showed that chickens tested positive for the deadly H5N1 virus in 17 of the 25 regencies in West Java, while human infection has been found in 12 regencies.
Resmiati blamed the fast spread of the virus on the limited control of the traffic of live chickens in West Java.
"In the period from September 2005 to Feb. 14, 2006, up to 50 people were suspected of being infected with the bird flu virus, of whom 15 died, with 10 confirmed as positive for the virus," she said.
West Java Governor Danny Setiawan was scheduled to hold an emergency meeting on curbing the spread of bird flu on Monday with all regents and mayors.
In Central Java, representatives from the province's 35 regencies will be invited to a ceremony for the avian flu eradication campaign in Ungaran, Semarang regency, on Wednesday.
Central Java Deputy Governor Ali Mufiz said in Semarang on Thursday that the government would go ahead with its plan to undergo mass culling of infected chickens.
"We are still in the process of collecting data. Like the mass culling in 2005, this year's culling has to be conducted selectively," he said.
Central Java Governor Mardiyanto also confirmed in Surakarta that mass culling would be conducted in five regencies -- Boyolali, Klaten, Karanganyar, Sukoharjo and Sragen -- where 151,000 of 161,640 chickens tested positive for the virus.
"However, there is no need for the public to worry about the culling as the government will provide compensation for the culled chickens," he said.
The provincial administration earmarked Rp 32 billion (US$3.45 million) for the culling, with farmers compensated Rp 10,000 for each chicken killed.
The Central Java health office will also distribute 12 million bird flu vaccine samples this year, more than double the amount of 5 million distributed last year.
The bird flu virus has killed at least 90 people worldwide since the end of 2003 and 18 in Indonesia.
The increasing number of birth flu deaths in the country prompted the government last November to deploy troops and volunteers to conduct door-to-door checks for fowl infected with the virus. The search was first concentrated in Greater Jakarta and areas deemed "difficult" for officials to detect the avian influenza virus.

 

[Sally Furniss]

Indonesia victim and India

Indonesia victim and India

International

Bird flu reaches India, claims Indonesia victim

REUTERS
A hen rests on a wood log in the northeastern Indian city of Siliguri, February 18, 2006.

Dead poultry in Maharashtra state has tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus, the state's animal husbandry minister, Anees Ahmed, told Reuters on Saturday.

REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri
Saturday, February 18, 2006 2:52:50 PM ET
By Krittivas Mukherjee and Surojit Gupta

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India announced its first cases of bird flu on Saturday and said eight people were being checked for the disease after tests on poultry in a western state showed they were infected with the deadly H5N1 strain.

About 50,000 birds have died in the area in the last few days and samples sent to a government laboratory confirmed bird flu in the western Maharashtra state, local animal husbandry minister Anees Ahmed told Reuters.

"Yes, it is confirmed. The disease is H5N1. It has come to Maharashtra," Ahmed said. "We are treating it as an emergency."
India's Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said up to 500,000 birds would be culled in Maharashtra state in response to the disease and insisted that the situation was under control.

"There is absolutely no need to panic. The situation is under control. We have sufficient medicines," he said.

Ahmed said 200 veterinary doctors had been sent to the affected district of Nandurbar. Officials also banned trade in poultry in a 10-km (mile) radius around the outbreak.

Federal Health Secretary P.K. Hota said eight people were being tested for the H5N1 virus while four more are being kept under observation.
"We are testing eight humans for bird flu virus in the affected area in Maharashtra. Their blood samples have been sent to testing. Four, including three children, are being kept under observation," Hota told Reuters on Saturday.

An emergency meeting of the cabinet secretariat was called in New Delhi, a TV report said.

India is the fifth largest producer of eggs in the world. Livestock and poultry is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the country.

NOT CLUSTER CASE

In Indonesia, bird flu claimed its 19th human victim when tests showed a 23-year-old market worker who died a week ago had the H5N1 virus.

His death takes the number of known human cases of the disease worldwide to 171 and the death toll to 93. Two hundred million birds across Asia, parts of the Middle East, Europe and Africa have died of the virus or been culled.

The latest Indonesian casualty was not among the so-called "cluster" cases Indonesia has experienced, where several members of the same family become infected by the virus.

So far most victims of bird flu globally have had direct or indirect contact with chickens, but there are fears the virus will mutate into a strain easily passed among people, causing a pandemic in which millions could die.

Bird flu has also spread deep into Europe with the first likely case in France -- Europe's biggest poultry producer.

Farm Minister Dominique Bussereau said it was 98.8 percent sure that a duck found in eastern France had died of the H5N1 strain, which is transmissible to humans.

President Jacques Chirac said on Saturday the government will be vigilant and ready to act on a possible outbreak.

"It is a situation which we have to take with calm, but which also has to be taken very seriously," Chirac told a news conference in Bangkok.
Several wild ducks were found dead on Monday near Lyon in a region famous for the quality of its chickens. Test results for one of the ducks showed the presence of bird flu, the H5 virus, and tests for the H5N1 strain were underway, Bussereau said.

Earlier this week, France extended its ban on keeping poultry outside to the whole of the country, saying there was a higher risk from bird flu following recent cases in Europe.

AUSTRIA, BULGARIA, DENMARK, EGYPT

Austria found two cases of deadly H5N1 bird flu virus near Vienna on Saturday, raising the total number of cases there to seven and prompting a nationwide order to confine poultry indoors, the health ministry said.

Health Minister Maria Rauch-Kallat told a news conference that a dead swan found in the Vienna suburb of Donaustadt and a dead duck found in nearby Lower Austria province had tested positive for suspected H5N1 infection.

She said a poultry protection zone already established in southern Austria, where four swans and a duck tested positive for H5N1 earlier this week, had been extended throughout the Alpine republic as a result of Saturday's discoveries.

In Bulgaria, authorities put a man in an isolation chamber and were testing him for bird flu on Saturday after two of his ducks died, but said he was not showing symptoms of the disease.

Bulgaria detected its first outbreak of the H5N1 strain in a wild swan on the Danube River town of Vidin, close to the Romanian border, at the end of January and has since stepped up measures to avoid it spreading.

Denmark, which has so far not recorded any cases of H5N1, said on Saturday tests on 17 dead birds proved negative. Results of tests on more dead birds are expected on Tuesday.

Bird flu hit an Egyptian chicken farm near Cairo on Saturday and the authorities decided to cull all 10,000 birds there, the state news agency MENA said.

Egypt reported its first cases of bird flu on Friday but all of the seven chickens infected were domestic fowl, not on large farms. No humans have contracted the virus in Egypt.

Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif advised people who breed poultry at home to get rid of them to prevent the spread of bird flu.

Earlier this week, France extended its ban on keeping poultry outside to the whole of the country, saying there was a higher risk from bird flu following recent cases in Europe.

AUSTRIA, BULGARIA, DENMARK, EGYPT

Austria found two cases of deadly H5N1 bird flu virus near Vienna on Saturday, raising the total number of cases there to seven and prompting a nationwide order to confine poultry indoors, the health ministry said.

Health Minister Maria Rauch-Kallat told a news conference that a dead swan found in the Vienna suburb of Donaustadt and a dead duck found in nearby Lower Austria province had tested positive for suspected H5N1 infection.

She said a poultry protection zone already established in southern Austria, where four swans and a duck tested positive for H5N1 earlier this week, had been extended throughout the Alpine republic as a result of Saturday's discoveries.

In Bulgaria, authorities put a man in an isolation chamber and were testing him for bird flu on Saturday after two of his ducks died, but said he was not showing symptoms of the disease.

Bulgaria detected its first outbreak of the H5N1 strain in a wild swan on the Danube River town of Vidin, close to the Romanian border, at the end of January and has since stepped up measures to avoid it spreading.

Denmark, which has so far not recorded any cases of H5N1, said on Saturday tests on 17 dead birds proved negative. Results of tests on more dead birds are expected on Tuesday.

Bird flu hit an Egyptian chicken farm near Cairo on Saturday and the authorities decided to cull all 10,000 birds there, the state news agency MENA said.

Egypt reported its first cases of bird flu on Friday but all of the seven chickens infected were domestic fowl, not on large farms. No humans have contracted the virus in Egypt.

Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif advised people who breed poultry at home to get rid of them to prevent the spread of bird flu.

 

[Mellie]

Indonesia reports 20th death from bird flu

Indonesia reports 20th death from bird flu

Indonesia reports 20th death from bird flu

22.02.2006, 05.03
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=3415096&PageNum=0

KUALA LUMPUR, February 22 (Itar-Tass) --A 27-year-old Indonesian woman died in a Jakarta hospital from bird flu, the Indonesian Health Ministry reported Wednesday.

The woman, who died on Monday, had been infected with the deadly H5N1 virus. The ministry said it will send her blood samples to a Hong-Kong-based World Health Organization laboratory for confirmation.

This brought Indonesia?s death toll from avian flu to 20 over the past eight months.

 

[Sally Furniss]

Two people in Bandung allegedly die of bird flu

Two people in Bandung allegedly die of bird flu

Feb 23 17:22
Two people in Bandung allegedly die of bird flu Bandung, West Java (ANTARA News) - Two people believed to be suffering from bird flu died at Hasan Sadikin hospital (RSHS) here Wednesday night and in the wee hours of Thursday respectively, a doctor said here Thursday.

The two patients, identified only by their innitials E (50) and B (1) died at 7.50 p.m. and 00.45 a.m respectively, RSHS director Cissy Rachiana Sudjana Prawira said.
http://news.antara.co.id/en/seenws/index.php?id=9349

K and H who both hailed from Subang district were admitted to the hospital on Wednesday and last week respectively, she said.

The hospital sent blood samples of the two people to the Health Research and Development Body in Jakarta for confirmation, she said.

With the death of two patients at the RSHS hospital, the number of people who died of alleged bird flu illness rose to six including three todlers, she said.

Coordinating Minister for People`s Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said recently the government would give Rp 10,000 as compensation for every bird or chicken culled for being allegedly infected with the H5N1 virus which is responsible for the deadly bird flu disease.

The Jakarta city administration has decided to close the natonal capital city for the traffic flow of poultry in a bid to contain the disease.

Meanwhile Poultry Breeding Businessmen Association (GPPU) chairman Paulus Setyobudi said in Jakarta on Wednesday the cull of bird flu-infected poultry should be carried out carefully as the measure could create more problems.

He said all chickens in a radius of one kilometer are to be terminated if people find an avian influenza virus-infected chicken.
He also said if there was a bird flu case near an airport day-old-chickens (DOC) which were sent through the airport should be culled.

However, if the two measures were taken, he said, the supply of chickens would drop.

In the meantine Food and Agricutural Organization (FAO)`s husbandry office chairman Joseph Domenech said in New York on Tuesday countries should prepare avian influenza vaccine in a bid to contain the bird flu illness.

He said compensation for poultry farmers is an effective way to prevent the disease from spreading.

Without the incentive, people might hid their sick poultry and later sell them, he said.

FAO reported that 92 people have died from the bird flu illness in Asia since it was reported for the first time in the continent in 2003.

The bird flu cases have not only been found in Asia but also now in Europe and Africa as well, it said. (*)

 

[Sally Furniss]

Indonesia: Govt to involve Islamic boarding schools in bird flu control

Indonesia: Govt to involve Islamic boarding schools in bird flu control

Feb 23 18:02
Govt to involve Islamic boarding schools in bird flu control Jombang, E Java (ANTARA News) - Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari has appointed Tebuireng Islamic boarding school here as a a "foster parent" to other Islamic boarding schools in the country in curbing the spread of bird flu and the outbreak of dangue fever.

"I thinkt what Pak Yusuf Hasyim (the Tebuireng Islamic boarding school`s manager) has proposed is quite good. That`s why I support it and the Health Ministry will later follow it up," she said when visiting the Islamic boarding school on Thursday.

KH Yusuf Hasyim said to follow up the proposal the Health Ministry would cooperate with the health units of Tebuireng Islamic boarding school.

"Mrs. Siti Fadilah has promised to involve Islamic boarding schools in containing the bird flu virus and dangue fever," he said.

A total of 26 confirmed cases of bird flu have been recorded in Indonesia so far and 19 of them have proven to be fatal. In an effort to contain the disease the government has ordered the people to keep their poultry indoors.

The government said recently it would cull all poultry found within a radius of one kilometer from an outbreak and vaccinate those within a radius of three kilometers. (*)
http://news.antara.co.id/en/seenws/index.php?id=9353

 

[Sally Furniss]

Several kinds of poultry tested positive for bird flu

Several kinds of poultry tested positive for bird flu

Feb 23 15:04
Several kinds of poultry tested positive for bird flu in Bengkulu Bengkulu, Sumatra (ANTARA News) - Several kinds of poultry in Indonesia`s Bengkulu province have tested positive for the Avian Influenza virus, according to the result of blood tests conducted on poultry in the province.

The poultry that tested positive was found in Air Napal and Padang Jaya subdistricts, North Bengkulu, and Manna, Bunga Mas, Pasar Manna and Pino subdistricts in South Bengkulu, head of the local animal husbandry service Daryanto said on Thursday.

He said the poultry was found infected with the virus after the office, along with the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) conducred tests on the blood samples of 532 chickens, 72 ducks, 83 Manila ducks, 37 geese and 4 birds in North Bengkulu, and 439 chickens, 132 ducks, 83 Manila ducks, 9 geese and 2 birds in South Bengkulu.

A total of 26 confirmed cases of bird flu have been recorded in Indonesia so far and 19 of them ended fatally.

In an effort to contain the disease the government ordered the people to keep their poultry indoors.

The government said recently it will cull all poultry located within the radius of one kilometer from an outbreak and vaccinate those within the radius of three kilometers. (*)
http://news.antara.co.id/en/seenws/index.php?id=9334

 

[Sally Furniss]

Indonesia: Woman (34) dies, named Elyse.

Indonesia: Woman (34) dies, named Elyse.

Another Indonesian dies of suspected bird flu
(AFP)

24 February 2006
JAKARTA -An Indonesian woman suspected of being infected with the bird flu virus has died in Jakarta, a hospital official said on Friday.
The woman, 34, died Thursday a few hours after being transferred to an intensive care unit in Sulianto Saroso Hospital, according to Sardikin, head of the hospital’s bird flu response unit.<o =""></o>
Results of tests on the woman, whose name was Elyse, should be known on Saturday, he told AFP.<o =""></o>>
If positive for the H5N1 virus, the result will be sent to an overseas laboratory affiliated with the World Health Organisation (WHO) for confirmation.<o =""></o>
Indonesia has so far recorded 19 bird flu fatalities confirmed by WHO-affiliated laboratories and health authorities are awaiting results on what could be the 20th fatality.<o =""></o>
They fear that if Elyse is confirmed to have died from the H5N1 virus, she would bring the total number of deaths to 21.<o =""></o>
Since 2003, more than 90 people, most of them Asian, have died after coming into contact with infected poultry saliva, nasal secretions or faeces.

Experts fear the virus mutating into a form that can pass between humans and lead to a global pandemic that could claim millions of lives.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2006/February/theworld_February663.xml&section=theworld&col=

 

[Sally Furniss]

Indonesia: Woman (27) dies, named Julia

Indonesia: Woman (27) dies, named Julia

JAKARTA : Indonesia's bird flu toll hit the 20 mark on Saturday with confirmation that a 27-year-old woman had succumbed to the H5N1 virus, the health ministry said.

The woman, a housewife who had direct contact with her neighbour's chickens, was admitted to Sulianti Saroso hospital in Jakarta on Monday and died the same day, hospital spokesman Ilham Patu said.

Her test results came back from the United States on Saturday in the middle of a three-day anti-bird flu crackdown in the Indonesian capital Jakarta that has seen hundreds of birds culled.

Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, has witnessed more bird flu deaths than any other country this year, recording nine fatalities.

"The results for Julia, a 27-year-old woman from East Jakarta (district), came in today from the center for disease control and prevention in Atlanta," the health ministry's Hariyadi Wibisono told AFP on Saturday.

He said the Atlanta laboratory was affiliated to the World Health Organization (WHO) and confirmed that the woman was Indonesia's 20th bird flu death.

Blood tests on members of the victim's family had been performed but none of them had fallen ill so far, Wibisono said, adding that the department of agriculture was awaiting test results on the neighbour's chickens.

Health authorities were also awaiting local test results for a 34-year-old woman who died on Thursday at the Sulianti Saroso hospital, he said.

Local test samples and results showing someone is positive for the H5N1 virus are then sent to an overseas laboratory affiliated with the WHO for independent confirmation.

Indonesia has reported a flurry of suspected bird flu cases in recent weeks, mostly in the capital and surrounding districts, where many people live in close proximity to poultry despite the urban environment.

Some 500 workers and volunteers began a three-day door-to-door sweep on Friday in 44 subdistricts of the capital to search for the large number of poultry believed to be living in and around people's homes.

"We culled a total of 580 chickens and birds in Central and East Jakarta districts on Friday," Adnan Arman, Jakarta's deputy chief of animal husbandry and fisheries agency, told AFP.

Indonesia is offering farmers 10,000 rupiah (one dollar) for each bird culled but the sum has been criticised for being too low as the cheapest fresh chicken sold on the market fetches around 15,000 rupiah.

Although most of Indonesia's human bird flu victims have come from Jakarta, infected birds have been found in 26 Indonesian provinces.

Experts fear that H5N1, which has killed more than 90 people mostly in Asia since 2003, may mutate into a form that can pass between humans, sparking a deadly pandemic.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/195020/1/.html

 

[ukcz]

Indonesia 'risks bird flu pandemic'

Indonesia 'risks bird flu pandemic'

Indonesia 'risks bird flu pandemic'
By Frank Walker
Sydney Morning Herald
February 26, 2006

A LACK of funding and expertise in Indonesia is increasing the risk of bird flu evolving into a global human pandemic, an Australian expert on the virus has said.

Andrew Jeremijenko says there is data to show the H5N1 virus, which has been killing humans in Indonesia, is different from the one that is killing birds.

"So far the investigations have been unable to match the viruses," he told the ABC yesterday. "They don't seem to be able to match the viruses from the human case to the animal case. And that is putting the world at threat.

"Every human case is another potential mutation that could turn this virus into a pandemic virus."

Dr Jeremijenko has worked in Indonesia for eight years, most recently leading influenza surveillance studies for a US naval medical research group.

He said there had been no human deaths in Turkey, Vietnam or Thailand after effective control programs were implemented. But in Indonesia there was poor communication between the departments of Health and Agriculture and the deaths kept on coming, with two suspected H5N1 deaths in the past week.

A spokeswoman for the Australian Health Department said

Australia had provided $15.5 million to help Indonesia fight the spread of avian flu

http://smh.com.au/news/world/indonesia-risks-bird-flu-pandemic/2006/02/25/1140670301306.html

 

[Mellie]

Can't match the bird virus with the human virus...

Can't match the bird virus with the human virus...

I wonder if migration is providing several clades of the virus in the same area??? Has migration begun there yet?

Or if the bird virus has recombined in humans to supply a dominant human variant???

Or if a "low grade" human H5N1 from last season has been mucking around for some time and now is presenting in more people, enough that it can't be missed???

 

[ukcz]

Failed Indonesian bird flu response concerns experts

Failed Indonesian bird flu response concerns experts

Failed Indonesian bird flu response concerns experts
Saturday, 25 February, 2006
Reporter: Peter Cave

An Australian epidemiologist working at the forefront of the fight against bird flu in Indonesia says that country's failure to effectively deal with the disease it putting not only neighbouring Australia but the whole world at risk of a pandemic.

Dr Andrew Jeremijenko has worked in Indonesia for eight years, most recently as the Project Leader of the Influenza Surveillance Studies for a US Naval Medical Research Group, helping the Indonesian Government.

He says countries like Turkey, Vietnam and Thailand have implemented effective control programs and have since had no human deaths, but in Indonesia the deaths keep on coming, with two suspected H5N1 deaths in the past week.

Dr Jeremijenko spoke to out Foreign Affairs Editor, Peter Cave, in Jakarta.

PETER CAVE: How seriously do you think the Indonesians are taking the threat of bird flu?

ANDREW JEREMIJENKO: I think the Indonesians are taking this seriously, but I don't think they're actually dealing with it effectively. I really think that they need to do better research, and more investigations and better investigations to work out what is really happening and to work out an effective control program.

PETER CAVE: Why do you think they're not doing it the right way?

ANDREW JEREMIJENKO: I don't think they have the experience on the ground. The influenza research here is still in a very early stage. There's meant to be a national influenza centre in Indonesia, but it really hasn't been working at all. They've got international funding, but they haven't been able to get it up and running yet.

I think they are trying to  they are trying to deal with the problem, but they really need to get an effective control program in place.

Now, Indonesia's had this problem since 2003, August 2003, and there've been human deaths since July 2005, and now we're in 2006, February 2006, and they still really haven't got an effective program together.

PETER CAVE: Is the way that Indonesia is dealing with this problem a threat to Australia?

ANDREW JEREMIJENKO: I think it is not only a threat to Australia, I think it is a threat to the whole entire world. Every human case is another potential mutation that could turn this virus into a pandemic virus.

PETER CAVE: More so than somewhere like Nigeria, for example?

ANDREW JEREMIJENKO: I think Nigeria, India, Indonesia, they are all threats to the world. But Indonesia is more advanced, it's had this virus for longer, and so that's why we are more concerned.

PETER CAVE: Are you seeing mutations in the virus in Indonesia?

ANDREW JEREMIJENKO: Yes, that's a good question. We are seeing mutations in the human virus. We are not seeing that same mutation in the bird virus. And that's of great concern.

Basically, when you do an investigation of a bird flu case, you should try to find the virus from the human and match it up with the virus from the bird and find the cause.

Now, in Indonesia, the investigations have been sub-optimal, and they have not been able to match the human virus to the poultry virus, so we really do not know where that virus is coming from in most of these human cases.

PETER CAVE: Does it suggest it's going through an intermediary before it's infecting humans?

PETER CAVE: [<-- error? Should read ANDREW JEREMIJENKO?]It's a possibility that we can't rule out. I think they really need to do a lot more investigations. So far the closest match we have to the human virus is from a cat virus. So the cat could be an intermediate. We really don't know what's happening yet. They need to do more studies, they need to get better investigators on the ground to work out what is happening in Indonesia, and it needs to be done urgently.

PETER CAVE: Can Indonesia do this on its own?

ANDREW JEREMIJENKO: I think they need international assistance. So far the investigations have been unable to match the viruses. It is poor communication between the Department of Health and the Department of Agriculture. There are many reasons, but they don't seem to be able to match the viruses from the human case to the animal case, and that is putting the world at threat.

ELIZABETH JACKSON: Dr Andrew Jeremijenko speaking with the ABC's Foreign Affairs Editor, Peter Cave, in Jakarta.

http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2006/s1578301.htm

 

[Sally Furniss]

Indonesia :railtrack slum give up birds.

Indonesia :railtrack slum give up birds.

In a railtrack slum, Indonesians give up their birds but grumble over cash




JAKARTA (AFP) - Until a team of government workers sniffing out bird flu descended on his slum by a railtrack in the Indonesian capital, Setia Budi, 45, was the proud owner of a dozen preening turtledoves.

"I have been raising turtledoves pretty much all my life, feeding and taking care of them regularly. It is a lovely sight to watch them soar in the sky," says Budi as the workers mill around the hodge-podge of neighbourhood cages.

But four birds out of more than 250 owned by the residents here have just tested positive to avian influenza according to the team, which last week launched a door-to-door campaign in Jakarta to stamp out the virus here.

Bird flu has killed 20 Indonesians since July last year, mostly in the capital and its surrounds, but this is the first mass culling campaign of this size -- even though by global standards it's still very small scale.

Agricultural officials initially said they would kill all birds in a one-kilometre (half-mile) radius of any infections, but now they are saying they will be selective, killing all only if they believe there is a real risk that they are infected.


Vaccinations are slated to occur within a three-kilometre radius.


Positive test results, carried out using a South Korean kit costing about 100,000 rupiah (about ten dollars) per bird, leads to all the birds here today being destroyed. They are transported to a nearby incinerator before their throats are slashed.

"This is for our own interests. Go ahead, take down the names of the bird owners and how many birds each man has," subdistrict chief Hidayatullah tells the task force workers.


"It is the lives of the people that we have to save. I'm not going to lie to you by declaring unhealthy birds healthy," he tells the residents, with those owners present reluctantly agreeing to the birds being destroyed.


As in many places in Indonesia, the birds here are kept in close proximity to people's homes, which in this teeming slum in the Central Jakarta area of Kramat are constructed of nothing more than cardboard and corrugated iron.


Setia Budi is upset both about losing his birds and his money.


"What I regret is that the government is only willing to pay 10,000 rupiah" for each bird, he says, gesturing to a pair that cost one of his neighbours 1.5 million rupiah. His own cheapest pair were 300,000.


The amount is a huge sum for the slum dwellers, most of whom are unemployed or working as scrap collectors. Naked children squeal as they run freely down the narrow, rubbish-strewn lanes.


"If I could choose, I would be more willing to set them free," Budi says angrily.


Edi Maryono, a 44-year-old parking attendant, is more philosophical.


"If they have truly tested positive, then it's okay for them to be killed as long as the other bird owners agree to do the same thing," he says.


"I too am afraid of being infected with bird flu, although I have never heard of anyone from this neighbourhood being treated as a suspected patient."


Sixty-year-old Ichsan, who owns 20 birds, is also willing to give them up for the sake of people's health, but complains about the compensation.

"I think it's a little bit too heavy for me to take because I have paid quite a lot of money for my birds," he mutters.


And he points out an alarming practice that may be contributing to Indonesia's bird flu death toll.


"Whenever we find unhealthy birds we just kill them. We slaughter them, but sometimes we eat them," he admits.


While cooked poultry kills the virus, coming into contact with infected carcasses can pass on the virus to humans, increasing the possibility that the virus will mutate into a form easily transmissible from human-to-human.


Experts fear that this will eventually occur, sparking a pandemic that could kill millions around the world.


Setia Budi, downcast, blames the government, which many have accused for being slow to act in Indonesia. "The government is at their best when it comes to giving us problems," he grumbles.

http://channels.netscape.com/news/story.jsp?floc=ne-world-12-l1&flok=FF-AFP-aspacnews&idq=/ff/story/7000%2F20060225%2F2225000001.htm&sc=aspacnews

 

[Mellie]

Failed Indonesian bird flu response concerns experts

Failed Indonesian bird flu response concerns experts

Posted by ukcz on the country and region thread

Failed Indonesian bird flu response concerns experts
Saturday, 25 February, 2006
Reporter: Peter Cave

An Australian epidemiologist working at the forefront of the fight against bird flu in Indonesia says that country's failure to effectively deal with the disease it putting not only neighbouring Australia but the whole world at risk of a pandemic.

Dr Andrew Jeremijenko has worked in Indonesia for eight years, most recently as the Project Leader of the Influenza Surveillance Studies for a US Naval Medical Research Group, helping the Indonesian Government.

He says countries like Turkey, Vietnam and Thailand have implemented effective control programs and have since had no human deaths, but in Indonesia the deaths keep on coming, with two suspected H5N1 deaths in the past week.

Dr Jeremijenko spoke to out Foreign Affairs Editor, Peter Cave, in Jakarta.

PETER CAVE: How seriously do you think the Indonesians are taking the threat of bird flu?

ANDREW JEREMIJENKO: I think the Indonesians are taking this seriously, but I don't think they're actually dealing with it effectively. I really think that they need to do better research, and more investigations and better investigations to work out what is really happening and to work out an effective control program.

PETER CAVE: Why do you think they're not doing it the right way?

ANDREW JEREMIJENKO: I don't think they have the experience on the ground. The influenza research here is still in a very early stage. There's meant to be a national influenza centre in Indonesia, but it really hasn't been working at all. They've got international funding, but they haven't been able to get it up and running yet.

I think they are trying to  they are trying to deal with the problem, but they really need to get an effective control program in place.

Now, Indonesia's had this problem since 2003, August 2003, and there've been human deaths since July 2005, and now we're in 2006, February 2006, and they still really haven't got an effective program together.

PETER CAVE: Is the way that Indonesia is dealing with this problem a threat to Australia?

ANDREW JEREMIJENKO: I think it is not only a threat to Australia, I think it is a threat to the whole entire world. Every human case is another potential mutation that could turn this virus into a pandemic virus.

PETER CAVE: More so than somewhere like Nigeria, for example?

ANDREW JEREMIJENKO: I think Nigeria, India, Indonesia, they are all threats to the world. But Indonesia is more advanced, it's had this virus for longer, and so that's why we are more concerned.

PETER CAVE: Are you seeing mutations in the virus in Indonesia?

ANDREW JEREMIJENKO: Yes, that's a good question. We are seeing mutations in the human virus. We are not seeing that same mutation in the bird virus. And that's of great concern.

Basically, when you do an investigation of a bird flu case, you should try to find the virus from the human and match it up with the virus from the bird and find the cause.

Now, in Indonesia, the investigations have been sub-optimal, and they have not been able to match the human virus to the poultry virus, so we really do not know where that virus is coming from in most of these human cases.

PETER CAVE: Does it suggest it's going through an intermediary before it's infecting humans?

PETER CAVE: [<-- error? Should read ANDREW JEREMIJENKO?]It's a possibility that we can't rule out. I think they really need to do a lot more investigations. So far the closest match we have to the human virus is from a cat virus. So the cat could be an intermediate. We really don't know what's happening yet. They need to do more studies, they need to get better investigators on the ground to work out what is happening in Indonesia, and it needs to be done urgently.

PETER CAVE: Can Indonesia do this on its own?

ANDREW JEREMIJENKO: I think they need international assistance. So far the investigations have been unable to match the viruses. It is poor communication between the Department of Health and the Department of Agriculture. There are many reasons, but they don't seem to be able to match the viruses from the human case to the animal case, and that is putting the world at threat.

ELIZABETH JACKSON: Dr Andrew Jeremijenko speaking with the ABC's Foreign Affairs Editor, Peter Cave, in Jakarta.

http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2006/s1578301.htm

 

[Mellie]

Three die of bird flu in Indonesia

Three die of bird flu in Indonesia

Three die of bird flu in Indonesia

27.02.2006, 06.33

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=3659175&PageNum=0

KUALA LUMPUR, February 27 (Itar-Tass) -- A young man died of bird flu in the Indonesian city of Bandung on Sunday bringing the death toll of the last three days to three.

The Antara news agency said six locals, including a child, were hospitalized with bird flu symptoms over the weekend in Bandung, the administrative center of the West Jawa Province.

 

[Laidback Al]

Another Human Death from Bird Flu in Indonesia

Another Human Death from Bird Flu in Indonesia

Suspected bird flu patient in RSHS dies, six more still treated

Bandung, W Java (ANTARA News) - A suspected bird flu patient identified with initial FA, had died in the Hasan Sadikin general hospital (RSHS) here Thursday following the death of two other patients at the same hospital on the night before, sources said.

The sources said here on Sunday that FA, of Cigadung Raya Barat, Bandung, succumbed at 6 a.m. after being treated for five hours at the hospital.

His parents rushed their ailing son to the hospital at 11 p.m on Saturday after they took along him first to the Boromeus hospital also here which immediately referred him to RSHS for lack of the necessary equipment.

RSHS meantime received another suspected bird flu patient, RG, 15, on Sunday, after receiving RS, 22 months old, on Saturday evening.

More than six person are currently treated at the RSHS for suspected bird flu.(*)

http://www.antara.co.id/en/seenws/?id=9461