Indonesia Human Cases Feb 8 to March 14, 2006

[Clytie]

Four More Birdflu Cases Confirmed in Indonesia

Feb 6, 2006 (CIDRAP News)
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/avianflu/news/feb0606avflu.html

? As the number of human cases of avian influenza in Indonesia continues to climb, the country is ramping up efforts to stem its spread.

The World Health Organization (WHO) today confirmed four more H5N1 infections, including two fatalities.

Of the two fatal cases, one was in a 22-year-old West Java man who died Jan 26, WHO reported. He sold bananas at a market in East Jakarta that also features poultry vendors. The other was in a 15-year-old boy, also from West Java, who died Feb 1, about a week after poultry deaths were reported in his neighborhood.

One nonfatal case was that of a 9-year-old girl from West Java who was hospitalized on Jan 19 and has fully recovered, WHO said. The other confirmed illness was in a 5-year-old boy from Lampung province who fell sick in October 2005. He is the brother of a 20-year-old man who had a confirmed case and also recovered fully.

The boy and his brother were both exposed to sick poultry in the course of slaughtering birds. The boy's initial tests were inconclusive, WHO said, but the infection was confirmed retrospectively from antibody levels in blood samples taken while he was sick and during his recovery.

The confirmatory testing brought WHO's case count for Indonesia to 23, including 16 deaths. Yet even before the organization updated its records, Indonesia was reporting another death. The country announced its 17th fatality (and 24th case) after a 38-year-old woman died in West Java on Feb 4, according to a story today from United Press International (UPI). Local tests found the woman had H5N1 infection, but samples were being sent to the WHO-affiliated laboratory in Hong Kong for confirmation.

Concerned by the continuing human cases, the Indonesian government is planning door-to-door poultry surveillance efforts, the agriculture minister said today, according to The Jakarta Post.
The goal of the inspections is to prevent the spread of the H5N1 virus, said the minister, Anton Apriantono. Door-to-door visits are already being conducted for poultry in Sumedang and Purwakarta districts in West Java, and other regions could receive the same treatment soon, he said.

"We are trying to be proactive," Apriantono said.
Elsewhere it appears that the virus may be continuing its march among people and poultry.

In Iraq, a second fatal human case of H5N1 infection has been confirmed, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) story published today. The second case involves Hamma Sur Abdullah, 40, who is the uncle of the first case-patient, a 15-year-old girl who died in January. A Cairo laboratory confirmed his death was the result of H5N1 infection, a senior Kurdish health official told AFP. Additional testing is being conducted at a lab in Britain on samples from the uncle, as well as on samples from a woman from the same region who is currently hospitalized in Iraq.

Seven patients with suspected H5N1 cases were being treated in Iraq, AFP reported, as international experts began an on-the-ground assessment in the Kurdish north. Other news agencies put the figure as high as a dozen suspected cases. Samples from the suspected cases are being tested in Cairo.

Since the first Iraqi died of H5N1 in January, more than 900,000 chickens and migratory birds have been culled, according to the Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) of the United Nations. Farmers in the Sulaimaniyah area are seeking compensation for their losses, IRIN reported today. More than 200 farmers protested peacefully on Feb 4.

Poultry infected with an H5 virus have been found in Bulgaria, a discovery that prompted officials there to block people's access to a wetlands area, according to Reuters news service.
A Reuters story published today said samples from a paralyzed, infected swan were being sent to Britain for further testing. H5 has been confirmed in the swan, but authorities await more tests to determine if it is H5N1.

"Scores of birds" died in the wetlands area, and about 30 ducks died at a farm near Varna on Sunday, the Reuters report said. Samples from the ducks were being sent to a lab in Sophia, the head of the veterinary office in Varna told Reuters.

"We're getting ready for a possible outbreak," Alexander Alexandrov, head of the regional veterinary office in Dobrich, told UPI. "People should forget about taking farm animals to water at the two lakes until spring, when the last [migratory] duck is gone."
See also
Feb 6 WHO update on Indonesia
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2006_02_06/en/index.html

 

[Cautel]

Re: Four More Birdflu Cases Confirmed in Indonesia

Re: Four More Birdflu Cases Confirmed in Indonesia

Local tests show two Indonesian women have bird flu

09 Feb 2006 03:34:06 GMT
Source: Reuters
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP80978.htm

http://www.alertnet.org/map/index.htm?ct=2&code=ID&pcode=130404_1&pcode=264919_6&pcode=130774_5

JAKARTA, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Two Indonesian women from an area just east of the capital are in hospital after local tests showed they had the H5N1 bird flu virus, a senior Health Ministry official said on Thursday.

Hariadi Wibisono, director of control of animal-borne diseases at the ministry, said the two women -- one aged 27 and the other 22 -- were being treated at a Jakarta hospital designated for bird flu patients.


"We received the results last night. Their health condition now is worsening," Wibisono said.

Further blood samples had been sent to a Hong Kong laboratory recognised by the World Health Organisation for confirmation.
Indonesia has had 16 WHO-confirmed deaths from bird flu and seven confirmed cases where patients have survived.

The two women are not related, but hail from the same suburban Jakarta area of Bekasi.

Sulianti Saroso hospital spokesman Ilham Patu said it was not clear how they may have picked up the virus. At least one had no direct contact with chickens, he said.

Most Indonesian cases have shown the victims had contact with dead chickens.

Turkey, Iraq and Nigeria have in recent weeks become the latest countries outside Asia to report human cases of the H5N1 strain of avian flu.

While it mostly affects birds, the virus has killed at least 88 people in seven countries since 2003, according to the World Health Organisation.

Experts fear the H5N1 virus will mutate to become easily passed between humans, triggering a pandemic. The current H5N1 strain of bird flu has not mutated.

The highly pathogenic strain of bird flu has affected birds in two-thirds of the provinces in Indonesia, an archipelago of about 17,000 islands and 220 million people.

The country has millions of chickens and ducks, many in the yards of rural or urban homes, making it likely that more humans will become infected with the virus.

AlertNet news is provided by Reuters​

 

[DB]

Local tests show two Indonesian women have bird flu

Local tests show two Indonesian women have bird flu

http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-02-09T033615Z_01_JAK111762_RTRUKOC_0_US-BIRDFLU-INDONESIA.xml

Local tests show two Indonesian women have bird flu

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Two Indonesian women from an area just east of the capital are in hospital after local tests showed they had the H5N1 bird flu virus, a senior Health Ministry official said on Thursday.
Hariadi Wibisono, director of control of animal-borne diseases at the ministry, said the two women -- one aged 27 and the other 22 -- were being treated at a Jakarta hospital designated for bird flu patients.
"We received the results last night. Their health condition now is worsening," Wibisono said.
Further blood samples had been sent to a Hong Kong laboratory recognized by the World Health Organization for confirmation.
Indonesia has had 16 WHO-confirmed deaths from bird flu and seven confirmed cases where patients have survived.
The two women are not related, but hail from the same suburban Jakarta area of Bekasi.
Sulianti Saroso hospital spokesman Ilham Patu said it was not clear how they may have picked up the virus. At least one had no direct contact with chickens, he said.
Most Indonesian cases have shown the victims had contact with dead chickens.
Turkey, Iraq and Nigeria have in recent weeks become the latest countries outside Asia to report human cases of the H5N1 strain of avian flu.
While it mostly affects birds, the virus has killed at least 88 people in seven countries since 2003, according to the World Health Organization.
Experts fear the H5N1 virus will mutate to become easily passed between humans, triggering a pandemic. The current H5N1 strain of bird flu has not mutated.
The highly pathogenic strain of bird flu has affected birds in two-thirds of the provinces in Indonesia, an archipelago of about 17,000 islands and 220 million people.
The country has millions of chickens and ducks, many in the yards of rural or urban homes, making it likely that more humans will become infected with the virus.

 

[sharon sanders]

Indonesia

Indonesia

Friday, 10 February 2006 09:22
BNN: British Nursing News Online ? www.bnn-online.co.uk
INDONESIAN WOMAN KILLED BY BIRD FLU
Health officials have reported that one Indonesian woman has died and another is seriously ill after local tests showed they both had the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain.

The women are not related, but are from the same suburb of the capital Jakarta.

The woman, who died, a 23-year-old from Bekasi, had been in hospital for several days. Officials said the condition of the other woman, 27, was deteriorating.

If the World Health Organization-approved laboratories confirm the tests, this would bring the total number of Indonesian bird flu deaths to 17.

 

[Theresa42]

Another Indonesian dies of bird flu

Another Indonesian dies of bird flu

Another Indonesian dies of bird flu
11 February 2006 1123 hrs

JAKARTA : A 27-year-old Indonesian woman who tested positive for bird flu has died, hospital staff Saturday.

The woman died late Friday after being on a ventilator since Tuesday, said Ilham Patu, the spokesman of Jakarta's Sulianti Saroso hospital where the patient had been treated.

Tests conducted by the health ministry, which are normally accurate, showed that the woman had bird flu.

On Thursday a 22-year-old woman died after local tests showed she had the virus.

Samples from the two women have been sent to a Hong Kong laboratory accredited by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for confirmation.

If confirmed, they would be Indonesia's 17th and 18th fatalities from the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus.

The WHO has confirmed 23 human cases of bird flu in Indonesia, which have resulted in 16 confirmed deaths.

The virus has killed more than 85 people mostly in Asia since 2003 although four have died this year in Turkey and two in northern Iraq.

Experts fear that the H5N1 virus could mutate into a form easily transmitted by humans and spark a global pandemic potentially killing millions. - AFP/ch

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/192665/1/.html

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: Another Indonesian dies of bird flu

Re: Another Indonesian dies of bird flu

Indonesian woman dies of bird flu

February 12, 2006



A West Javan woman has died of bird flu, the second in the same town in as many days, officials say.
Dewi Sartika, 37, of Bekasi, a town just east of Jakarta, died overnight Friday at Sulianti Saroso Hospital, Health Ministry official Hariadi Wibisono said.
A 23-year-old woman, also from Bekasi, died of bird flu at the same hospital on Thursday night, Wibisono said citing local tests.
He said blood and swab samples from the two women had been sent to a World Health Organisation-sanctioned laboratory in Hong Kong.
If those tests are positive, Indonesia's official death toll from the virus would climb to 18.
Wibisono said another man was suspected of dying of bird flu on Friday night but officials were waiting for local test results.
Bird flu has killed at least 88 people in Asia and Turkey since 2003, according to the WHO.
It has been ravaging poultry stocks across Asia since 2003, killing or forcing the slaughter of more than 140 million birds.
Almost all the deaths have been linked to contact with infected poultry, but experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans, possibly sparking a pandemic that could kill millions.
Indonesia is seen as a potential flashpoint because of its high density of people and of poultry.
Wibisono said the source of infection for the two victims from Bekasi was still being investigated, but initial inquiries showed both women had contact with poultry.
The WHO has confirmed 23 cases in Indonesia, 16 of which were fatal.


http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/indonesian-woman-dies-of-bird-flu/2006/02/11/1139542445070.html

 

[Mellie]

WHO tests confirm two more Indonesian bird flu deaths

WHO tests confirm two more Indonesian bird flu deaths

WHO tests confirm two more Indonesian bird flu deaths

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/192801/1/.html

JAKARTA : Results of tests by the World Health Organisation (WHO) showed that two Indonesian women who died in hospital last week had died of bird flu, a hospital spokesman said Sunday.

A 27-year-old who died at the Julianti Saroso hospital on Friday and a 22-year-old who died a day earlier both tested positive for the H5N1 strain of the virus, Julianti Saroso Spokesman Ilham Patu told AFP.

The confirmation takes Indonesia's death toll from the virus to 18.

The virus has killed more than 85 people, mostly in Asia, since 2003 although four have died this year in Turkey and two in northern Iraq.

Experts fear that the virus could mutate into a form easily transmitted by humans and spark a global pandemic killing millions. - AFP/ch

 

[Goju]

WHO confirms 2 Indonesian women have bird flu

WHO confirms 2 Indonesian women have bird flu

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-02/12/content_4168594.htm


JAKARTA, Feb. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- The World Health Organization (WHO)has confirmed two Indonesian woman of having avian influenza, bringing total cases in the country to 25, and 18 of them have died, a hospital official said here Sunday.

Ilham Patu, a director at the Jakarta designed hospital for bird flu, Sulianti Suroso Hospital, told Xinhua over telephone that the two women in their 20s died on Feb. 9 and Feb. 10 respectively after being treated in the hospital.

"The result of the test from WHO laboratory in Hong Kong show that they were confirmed, the result were obtained last night," hesaid.

But it was not clear whether the two women had contacts with birds, he said.

The director added that the local test of another man of 23 years old died on Feb. 10 in Sulianti Suroso Hospital was positive and his blood sample would be sent to Hong Kong laboratory on Monday.

More than 80 people have been killed by the virus in Asia, and Indonesia is the second biggest after Vietnam in terms of the number of victims, said the WHO.

The virus reportedly has spread to Nigeria, Turkey and Iraq in recent weeks.

A huge population and territory have hampered efforts to eliminate the virus in Indonesia, Minister of Agriculture Anton Apriantono has said.

Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country, has 220 million people and 17,000 islands. Enditem



So now what is the fatality rate for Indonesia?? like 72%?

 

[Clytie]

2 more deaths in Indonesia

2 more deaths in Indonesia

WHO tests confirm two more Indonesian bird flu deaths WHO tests confirm two more Indonesian bird flu deaths

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...192801/1/.html

JAKARTA : Results of tests by the World Health Organisation (WHO) showed that two Indonesian women who died in hospital last week had died of bird flu, a hospital spokesman said Sunday.

A 27-year-old who died at the Julianti Saroso hospital on Friday and a 22-year-old who died a day earlier both tested positive for the H5N1 strain of the virus, Julianti Saroso Spokesman Ilham Patu told AFP.

The confirmation takes Indonesia's death toll from the virus to 18.

The virus has killed more than 85 people, mostly in Asia, since 2003 although four have died this year in Turkey and two in northern Iraq.

Experts fear that the virus could mutate into a form easily transmitted by humans and spark a global pandemic killing millions. - AFP/ch

 

[Sally Furniss]

Indonesia has most bird flu victims: WHO

Indonesia has most bird flu victims: WHO

Indonesia has most bird flu victims: WHO

February 14, 2006 - 6:49AM


Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country, has reported 18 human deaths from avian flu that have been confirmed by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Seven of the confirmed Indonesian fatalities have been in 2006, making Indonesia the country with the most bird flu deaths so far this year.

China's Ministry of Health said last Friday a woman had died of bird flu in the central province of Hunan, the eighth person killed by the virus in the country.

The total number of deaths from the H5N1 bird flu virus stands at 91 since it re-emerged in late 2003.
Meanwhile in Africa, the deadly H5N1 bird flu has been spreading in Nigeria and authorities trying to prevent any human infections said it was proving difficult to persuade people not to eat dead poultry as they were too poor to throw it away.

In the European Union, where H5N1 was confirmed in wildbirds for the first time at the weekend, Greece was testing one man for possible bird flu and other countries reported a sharp fall in poultry sales as a result of the arrival of the virus.
At present, humans can only contract the virus through close contact with an infected animal. The Greek man undergoing tests is a hunter who killed three wild ducks a week ago.

Most Nigerians are unaware of bird flu and many have been handling sick and dead birds, heightening the risk of infection.
But officials are finding it difficult to persuade them to change their habits.

"I have been in the field and they say 'What are you telling us? We eat dead chickens and we have been doing that for centuries'," said Abdulsalam Nasidi, who is in charge of efforts to prevent bird flu from spreading to humans in Nigeria.
There have been no human cases of bird flu so far inNigeria but as well as the four confirmed cases of H5N1 in birds in three Nigerian states, authorities said there were now suspected outbreaks of bird flu in five other states, some of them hundreds of kilometres from where the original cases were detected.

Experts fear H5N1 may mutate into a form that can spread between people and cause a pandemic that could kill millions, and health officials are implementing measures such as bird culling and testing to try to stop the spread of the virus.
Government workers searched rural areas of Hong Kong,bringing tears of despair to bird owners as they enforced a ban on backyard fowl to try to stop bird flu taking hold in one of the world's most densely populated cities.

"Whoever says we cannot rear chickens should be ****ed,"sobbed Lau Sau-foong, who said she fainted twice from despair.

"I have treated those geese and chickens like my ownchildren. After I wake up each morning I will feed them. Tell me, aren't they torturing me mentally?"

The arrival of bird flu in the European Union promptedgovernments across the region to bolster their defences against the virus, while farmers braced for a plunge in poultry consumption.

Greek industry officials said sales had plunged 95 per cent since Saturday and an Italian farmers' group reported a drop of more than 50 per cent.

The poultry and egg industry in the EU isestimated to be worth 20 billion euros ($A32 billion).
German authorities said they might bring forward a ban on keeping poultry outside, Spain was reviewing its controls and Bulgaria cordoned off wetlands where infected birds had been found.

The Greek Health Ministry said one man was in quarantine pending results of tests for possible bird flu.
A 15-year-old boy had also been tested after developing flu-like symptoms, but the results were negative.
Russia and Bulgaria, which have already had confirmedoutbreaks, reported new cases of bird flu, while Romania said it had found more suspected cases.

? 2006 AAP

http://smh.com.au/news/WORLD/Indonesia-has-most-bird-flu-victims-WHO/2006/02/14/1139679557808.html

 

[Cazandra]

Re: Indonesia has most bird flu victims: WHO

Re: Indonesia has most bird flu victims: WHO

Two more bird flu cases confirmed in Indonesia

Web posted at: 2/13/2006 2:1:38
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Rest+of+the+World&month=February2006&file=World_News200602132138.xml
Source ::: Agencies


Penninsula - Quatar

JAKARTA: A Hong Kong laboratory recognised by the World Health Organisation has confirmed two more human bird flu deaths in Indonesia, raising the toll from the virus in the country to 18, a Health Ministry official said yesterday.


Hariadi Wibisono, director of control of animal-borne diseases at the ministry, also said local tests showed a 23-year-old man who died on Friday had the H5N1 bird flu virus.


“The man worked in a traditional market transporting chicken eggs that might have had droppings on them. His samples have been sent to Hong Kong for confirmation,” he said.


The WHO has urged that hygiene and sanitation standards in Indonesian traditional markets be improved.


The confirmation from the Hong Kong laboratory of the two deaths came after local tests found the two women as having the H5N1 bird flu virus. “I got the news in the middle of the night. With these two additions, the death toll is now at 18,” he said.

Although the two latest confirmed cases are not related, they both came from the suburb area of Bekasi, just east of the Indonesian capital.

Meanwhile, Nigerian health officials waited anxiously yesterday for test results on two children feared to be the first Africans infected with the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus.

The virus broke out in early January among poultry in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, but the H5N1 diagnosis was confirmed only last week and authorities are struggling to contain it as it spreads rapidly to farms across the north.


Health Ministry officials visited the families of two children who live near an infected farm in the northern state of Kaduna on Sunday and said the children may be moved to hospital.


“We are suspecting this might be something, but we are trying to get the real case notes,” said Health Ministry official Abdulsalam Nasidi, after visiting the family.

Although only four farms in three northern Nigerian states have confirmation of H5N1, officials believe more than 20 farms have been hit in Kano state alone.


Farmers in three other states have also reported mass deaths of poultry, local media reported.


Farmers have received little information on how to handle the disease, and workers have been using their bare hands to dispose of thousands of infected birds, raising fears of a large number of human infections.

 

[Theresa42]

Indonesia to boost hospitals' bird flu treating capacity

Indonesia to boost hospitals' bird flu treating capacity

Indonesia to boost hospitals' bird flu treating capacity
February 14, 2006

Indonesian health ministry plans to boost the capacity of 44 reference hospitals for bird flu patients in an effort to optimize the fight against the disease, an official said on Monday.

"The government is now still mapping the conditions of the hospitals concerned," I Nyoman Kandun, the ministry's director general of disease control and environment sanitation, said.

"We want to know if the hospitals already have an isolation ward, complete equipment and skilled personnel," Antara news agency quoted the director as saying.

He said the plan was part of efforts to minimize the disease's fatality rate. "With good management of cases and availability of equipment and drugs to deal with the disease, it is hoped the fatality rate will drop," he said.

He said the rate of fatality in bird flu cases in Indonesia had reached around 70 percent or was higher than in other countries such as Vietnam, where the rate was recorded at only 23 percent, Thailand (63 pct) and Turkey (28 pct).

The health ministry had recorded a total of 26 positive cases of bird flu from July to Feb. 12 this year in 16 provinces in the country and the cases had led to 18 deaths.

Meanwhile, out of 91 patients treated on suspicion of carrying H5N1 strain of bird flu virus 28 had died, he said.

Among the factors that had caused the high rate of fatality was because most bird flu patients were taken to hospital only after it was too late.

He said Tamiflu was only effective medicine for bird flu patients 24 hours after infection.

http://english.people.com.cn/200602/14/eng20060214_242537.html

 

[Mellie]

Two More Humans Die Of Bird Flu Infection In Indonesia

Two More Humans Die Of Bird Flu Infection In Indonesia

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/healthnews.php?newsid=37766

Two More Humans Die Of Bird Flu Infection In Indonesia

Main Category: Flu/Bird Flu/SARS News
Article Date: 14 Feb 2006 - 22:00pm (UK)

The Indonesian Ministry of Health confirmed that a 22 year-old woman and a 27 year-old woman died of H5N1 bird flu (avian flu) infection.

The younger woman became ill on 25th January and died on the 10th February. She lived next door to a family that kept chickens in their backyard. Authorities have taken samples of these chickens, as well as pet birds in a market nearby.

The other woman started showing symptoms on 31st January and died on the 10th February. A few days before she became ill there had been reports of dead chickens in her neighbourhood.

Both women were from West Java Province.

So far 25 humans have been infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus strain in Indonesia, of which 18 have died.

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today

 

[Mellie]

Two More Humans Die Of Bird Flu Infection In Indonesia

Two More Humans Die Of Bird Flu Infection In Indonesia

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/heal...p?newsid=37766

Two More Humans Die Of Bird Flu Infection In Indonesia

Main Category: Flu/Bird Flu/SARS News
Article Date: 14 Feb 2006 - 22:00pm (UK)

The Indonesian Ministry of Health confirmed that a 22 year-old woman and a 27 year-old woman died of H5N1 bird flu (avian flu) infection.

The younger woman became ill on 25th January and died on the 10th February. She lived next door to a family that kept chickens in their backyard. Authorities have taken samples of these chickens, as well as pet birds in a market nearby.

The other woman started showing symptoms on 31st January and died on the 10th February. A few days before she became ill there had been reports of dead chickens in her neighbourhood.

Both women were from West Java Province.

So far 25 humans have been infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus strain in Indonesia, of which 18 have died.

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today

 

[Mellie]

Agriculture Minister Says Indonesia Aims to Control Bird Flu in Three Years

Agriculture Minister Says Indonesia Aims to Control Bird Flu in Three Years

Agriculture Minister Says Indonesia Aims to Control Bird Flu in Three Years

http://www.redorbit.com/news/health...ontrol_bird_flu_in/index.html?source=r_health

Tuesday, 14 February 2006

Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency)

Jakarta, 14 February: Indonesia targeted to control the bird flu virus spread, that has killed 18 out of 26 infected people, in three years, Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said here Tuesday [14 February].

"The target of reducing the virus to a condition that we can control it is three years, in 2008," Anton told Xinhua at the state palace.

The minister said the only step which now could be taken is slowly reducing the development of the H5N1 virus, because wild and migratory birds are still difficult to prevent from spreading the avian influenza virus.

He said although an infected area had been cleaned from the virus through depopulation and vaccination, there was no guarantee that the area was free from the virus forever, because wild birds may come again and infect it.

Indonesia on Tuesday insisted on intensifying depopulation of birds in infected areas within a radius of 1 km and conducting vaccination within a radius of 3 km.

"There is a possibility (of the virus to re-remerge) in infected areas, that was caused by not only migratory birds but also pigeons, therefore a massive stamping-out is not effective, because pigeons can return," he said.

"By selective stamping-out in an area with vaccination being followed in its surrounding areas, it can only reduce the virus. So, do not expect in one step all (the virus) can be eliminated," said Anton.

The minister of people's welfare and poverty alleviation, Aburizal Bakrie, said that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had instructed them to increase import of Tamiflu tablets and seek possibility to produce more tablet in the country in the next three months.

The minister said that currently the government is importing 200,000 boxes or about 2m tablets of Tamiflu from Switzerland and that the other 20,000 boxes will be imported in June.

President Susilo will beef up efforts to control the spread of the virus through coordination with five provincial governors whose areas were the most seriously infected by the virus.

The areas are the provinces of Lampung, the most seriously hit, Banten, West Java, Jakarta and Central Java, according to the agriculture minister.

Indonesia has made fighting bird flu one of the government's top priorities.

The World Health Organization has said that the virus is out of control in the world now, as it has spread to Russia, Europe, Turkey and Africa.

More than 80 people have been killed by the H5N1 virus in Asia.

Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific

 

[Theresa42]

Genetic Clue Pursued in Families Struck by Bird Flu

Genetic Clue Pursued in Families Struck by Bird Flu

Genetic Clue Pursued in Families Struck by Bird Flu
By Alan Sipress
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, February 15, 2006; Page A14

BANDUNG, Indonesia -- Buenah's teenage daughter lay sprawled on a hospital bed, under observation for bird flu. In an adjacent room, her haggard husband was sitting wrapped in a gray blanket, also under treatment for the virus.

Her two other children had already died from it.

"I don't know exactly why I'm healthy," Buenah admitted from a cot where she was keeping vigil late last month for her family. "I don't have a fever, a cough or other symptoms. I really don't know why not."

In the weeks before the family became sick, the virus raced through their small flock of chickens. When the last six birds developed symptoms, Buenah's husband helped his brother slit their throats beside a large palm in the front yard. The chickens were plucked and cooked in coconut milk for a family feast.

With four cases confirmed or suspected, her family represents one of the largest clusters of bird flu among humans in the world. It is also notable in sharing a characteristic with nearly all the other family clusters: Those infected by the virus were related to each other by blood and not by marriage. This raises the possibility that genetics play a role in determining who among those exposed contracts the often-lethal disease.

"It's intriguing," said Sonja J. Olsen of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Bangkok, who has studied family clusters of avian influenza. If a biological explanation were ultimately proved, she added, "perhaps we could identify people at genetic risk."

Since bird flu began spreading across Asia in 2003, there have been 25 recorded family clusters involving confirmed or suspected cases. In the overwhelming majority, these have involved blood relations such as siblings, parent and child, children and grandfather, or niece and aunt. In only three instances did both husband and wife test positive.

Worldwide, bird flu has infected at least 165 people and killed 91, according to the World Health Organization. Health experts warn that the notoriously changeable influenza virus could develop into a form more easily transmitted among people and spark a global pandemic.

Outside the isolation ward in Hasan Sadikin hospital, a facility designated to treat bird flu in Bandung, the capital of West Java province, Buenah's relatives were camped on the lobby floor, spending nights on thin woven mats, wondering, like the experts, why she was spared while the rest of the family fell sick.

"It's a mystery. It's really incomprehensible to us," said Surip, her husband's cousin. "Everyone in the family had the same contact with chickens."

There is no evidence that properly cooked poultry or eggs can be a source of infection, according to the CDC. Most cases of bird flu in humans have resulted from direct or close contact with infected live or uncooked poultry or surfaces contaminated with secretions and excretions from infected birds.

The Buenahs live about 100 miles east of Jakarta in the village of Cipedung, in the modest dwelling of a meatball peddler, with dirt floors, flimsy bamboo walls and a ramshackle roof that leaks in the rain. Chickens often wandered inside, sleeping beneath the platform beds.

Health investigators have attributed the outbreak to infected poultry, reporting that bird flu has been identified in chickens across much of the village.

Two days after the family killed and ate the infected birds, Nurochmah, 13, the first to fall sick, began coughing and developed a high fever. By the time she was taken to a district hospital six days later, she was gravely ill. The medical staff recommended she be moved to a better hospital, but she died as the ambulance was coming to transport her.

The day she died, Buenah brought their son, Indrawan, 4, to the district hospital after he came down with the same symptoms. The boy was urgently transferred to the provincial hospital, but he survived for only two days.

Another daughter, Indrawati, 14, was next to become ill, with a slight fever, not enough to keep her out of school. But health workers urged that she too be admitted to the hospital.

Her father, Kadis, joined her three days later after he began complaining of trouble breathing while overseeing the funeral for Nurochmah.

Tests confirmed that Nurochmah and Indrawan died of bird flu. Initial results were inconclusive for the father and older daughter. But international health experts said they expected that further testing would show all four had contracted the disease.

The father and daughter recovered and left the hospital two weeks ago.

The question of how Buenah eluded the virus is part of a puzzle now stumping global influenza experts. Researchers acknowledge that they know little about why some people become ill while others, with even greater exposure to the infection, remain healthy.

For instance, thousands of agricultural workers, officials and soldiers have been culling poultry across Asia in an effort to contain the spread of bird flu, at times lacking even basic protection such as gloves, masks and goggles. Yet according to WHO records, not one has fallen sick. This finding has reinforced the suspicion that some people are more susceptible than others.

"We've discussed how it's always likely there's some genetic component going on," Keiji Fukuda, WHO's influenza chief, said in a telephone interview from Geneva.

He cautioned that it was too soon to conclude that there is genetic susceptibility. Although the family pattern is suggestive, Fukuda said the size and number of clusters remain small. Moreover, even if research proves that some people are more susceptible, he said this information may have little practical benefit if the virus mutates into a form that spreads faster than people can be tested for genetic risk.

Olsen and other researchers have noted that behavior and not genetics might be the determining factor in who in a family gets sick.

Could the rest of Buenah's family have had more contact with sick chickens than she did? That's doubtful, relatives and local agriculture officials said, reporting that as a rural homemaker, she was in daily contact with livestock.

Perhaps the three children contracted the virus by playing with chickens. Could they have then passed it to their father but not their mother? Relatives said Buenah was the parent who usually looked after the children and who carried her ailing son in a sling across her chest for days.

When pressed by a reporter, Buenah suggested she was spared because she did not eat chicken when the rest of the family feasted on the sick birds. She said she had high blood pressure and avoided meat.

But back in the village, next door to Buenah's home, her mother-in-law, Jaonah, dismissed that explanation.

"Many people ate that chicken. I ate the chicken," recalled Jaonah, 70, sitting cross-legged on the porch. Beside her in the rain-soaked yard were the abruptly abandoned reminders of her family: her son's rickety meatball pushcart and her grandson's plastic tricycle. "The rest of us didn't get sick," she continued, eyes reddening. "So that can't be the reason."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/14/AR2006021401973.html?nav=rss_world

 

[Sally Furniss]

Ignorance about symptoms blamed for RI bird flu deaths

Ignorance about symptoms blamed for RI bird flu deaths

[FONT=Helvetica, Arial]Ignorance about symptoms blamed for RI bird flu deaths[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Abdul Khalik and Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]With Indonesia having the highest human mortality rate for bird flu in the world, health experts say people with flu-like symptoms and known risk factors should seek prompt medical advice.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Doctors said most patients assumed they were suffering from common influenza, and only sought medical help when their condition was acute and difficult to treat after the first 48 hours of its onset. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] General symptoms of bird flu, caused by the H5N1 virus, mirror common influenza, with constant high fever and pneumonia only characteristic of its later stages. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] "Often the patients are too sick to be treated because they come too late," said pulmonologist Tjandra Yoga Aditama from the University of Indonesia's medical school.
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Even if doctors in small clinics recognize that the patient is infected with the bird flu virus, there is nothing much they can do." [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Ilham Patu, spokesman for North Jakarta's Sulianti Saroso Hospital and also head of its bird flu surveillance unit, said the country's mortality rate of 69 percent showed the widespread ignorance. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] "As initial symptoms of bird flu are like common flu, people infected with the bird flu virus (typically) rest for days at home before going to the hospital when they are really sick," Ilham told The Jakarta Post. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] "In most cases, it's too late." [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] In a recent case, he said, a 27-year-old man died shortly after admission to the hospital from Fatmawati Hospital in South Jakarta because his condition was too advanced. Local tests showed he was positive for H5N1. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] According to official date, there have been 18 deaths of the 26 people who have tested positive since last year here. Most raised poultry or lived in areas where poultry was common. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Tjandra noted the increasing frequency of reports of suspected bird flu cases in Indonesia, most of which have been in Jakarta and West Java. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] "Last year, it took two months from the first case in July to the second case In September. Now, it's only a matter of days from one case to another."
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Three patients died at Sulianti Saroso Hospital last week, bringing to eight the deaths of the nine diagnosed cases this year. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] The government, which announced a stepped-up culling of poultry in outbreak areas Tuesday, also blamed poor public awareness for the high mortality rate. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] "Most of them take medicine for the flu because of the similar symptoms, and then come to the hospital after five to seven days," Coordinating Minister for Public Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] "While it's known that Tamiflu is effective only during the first 48 hours." [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Aburizal said the government would increase imports of the drug -- the only known treatment for the disease -- to be provided to suspected bird flu patients. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] "We have 20,000 doses of Tamiflu available at present and are expecting 20,000 does of Tamiflu in June, plus another 200,000 in November," he said after a meeting on bird flu with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari and Agriculture Minister Anton Apriantono. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] "We expect sometime between May and July to start producing a large number of tamiflu locally." [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Anton said the government would embark on a Rp 30 billion (US$3.26 million) depopulation, or a culling and vaccination, program, in areas with infected birds. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] The funds will also be used to provide compensation of Rp 10,000 per bird to poultry farmers. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] The program will entail culling infected poultry and others within a radius of one kilometer of the outbreak, and vaccinating those within a three-kilometer radius. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Jakarta Health Agency spokeswoman Evy Zelfino said a manual on bird flu diagnosis was distributed to doctors throughout the capital. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] "First, the doctors should provide special attention if they receive a patient with a high temperature plus cough and respiratory problems. Second, they should find out from the patient's relatives if he or she had contact with sick chickens or birds. If so, the person should be treated as a suspected bird flu patient," she told the Post.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060215.A02&irec=3
[/FONT]

 

[viamede]

President Discusses Bird Flu with Six Governors- Indonesia

President Discusses Bird Flu with Six Governors- Indonesia

Feb 15 19:44
President Discusses Bird Flu with Six Governors Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono invited the governors of Jakarta, West Java, Banten, Lampung, South Sulawesi and Central Java to a meeting at his office here Wednesday to discuss efforts to handle bird flu.

Coordinating Minister for People`s Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said after the meeting that in the near future a coordinating team for bird flu eradication would be set up in each province, led by its respective governor.

He said bird flu eradication efforts would cover poultry, people, bird flu eradication campaigns, reseach and tamiflu production.

He said research would be done to see if the virus that is spreading in the country was the same as that in other countries or if tamiflu was effective for Indonesia.

To make people aware that birdflu eradication was linked to environmental condition, he said, the government would carry out a national clean-up campaign which would be held later.

He said the government would also procure up to two million tamiflu capsules in anticipation of the spreading of the disease, adding that the government had already ordered 200,000 capsules from Roche.

He said the president had assigned the health minister to prepare a cooperation agreement with PT Kimia Farma for the production of the capsules and the import of its raw materials.

He said the health minister had also been tasked to increase the number of reference hospitals from 45 to 100. (*) http://news.antara.co.id/en/seenws/?id=8961

 

[ukcz]

Indonesian minister worried by bird flu cluster cases

Indonesian minister worried by bird flu cluster cases

Indonesian minister worried by bird flu cluster cases
15 Feb 2006 09:44:37 GMT
Source: Reuters

JAKARTA, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Indonesia's health minister said on Wednesday she was concerned about the growing number of cluster cases of H5N1 bird flu in humans in the country, but gave no evidence to support her fears.

Siti Fadillah Supari gave no figures for the number of cluster cases, which refers to where people living in close proximity have caught the virus.

The World Health Organisation's chief representative in Indonesia has previously said possible bird flu cases among family members did not mean the virus was mutating but could be caused by close contact normal in families.

"Our cluster cases are number one in the world. Increasing numbers of clusters means the possibility of human-to-human transfer is nearing," Supari told reporters.

She was speaking before a meeting with the president about the latest measures to tackle the disease.

Indonesia has had 18 deaths from bird flu confirmed. Eight other confirmed sufferers have survived.

Experts fear the H5N1 virus will mutate to become easily passed between humans, triggering a pandemic.

The highly pathogenic strain of bird flu has affected birds in two-thirds of the provinces in Indonesia, an archipelago of about 17,000 islands and 220 million people.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/JAK238059.htm

 

[somer9898]

Indonesia concerned about bird flu cluster cases

Indonesia concerned about bird flu cluster cases

Indonesia concerned about bird flu cluster cases
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2006021...GZoBHNlYwM3NTE-

JAKARTA (AFP) - Indonesia's health minister warned that the country's high number of so-called cluster bird flu cases was increasing the possibility of the virus mutating into a more pathogenic form.

We are number one in terms of cluster cases," Siti Fadilah Supari was quoted as saying by the Detikcom news portal on Wednesday.

She did not give a figure but a senior health ministry official has said Indonesia has had five 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," she reportedly said.

Last weekend, Indonesia's toll from the potentially fatal H5N1 virus rose to 18 with two more sets of positive test results returned from a World Health Organisation (WHO)-affiliated laboratory in Hong Kong.

Two more people were hospitalized Wednesday in Indonesia with suspected bird flu, a hospital official said.

A 15-year-old girl and 27-year-old man were admitted to the Sulianti Saroso hospital for infectious diseases, hospital spokesman Ilham Patu said.

It was not known whether they had a history of contact with sick or dead chickens near their homes in the southern and eastern districts of the capital Jakarta, Patu told AFP.

Patu also said tests results for four other people currently being treated at the hospital -- the main centre for bird flu patients in Indonesia -- and at another hospital in West Java, had turned out negative.

The four became ill after coming into contact with sick chickens.

Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, has this year alone recorded seven bird flu deaths, the highest number anywhere. The virus has killed more than 87 people in Asia since 2003.

Indonesia's agriculture minister Anton Apriantono confirmed Tuesday that the government would push ahead with plans to cull poultry within a one-kilometre radius of outbreaks in birds and vaccinate those within three kilometres.

He also said poultry farmers would be compensated with 10,000 rupiah (about one dollar) per bird killed, the Jakarta Post reported. He had earlier said farmers would be compensated but had not divulged how much they would be paid.

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