Sally Furniss
Well-known member
By Achmad Sukarsono
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia pledged on Thursday there would be no cover-up if human-to-human transmission of bird flu does occur, after five members of a family were confirmed to have died from the H5N1 avian flu virus.
The case has baffled experts because the source of the virus has not been confirmed and human-to-human transmission cannot be ruled out.
But, offering a possible answer, Indonesia's agriculture minister said pigs had tested positive for bird flu in the same village in North Sumatra.
The family slaughtered animals for a barbecue feast in late April before the outbreak in Kubu Simbelang village where pigs and chickens live near homes and cats and dogs roam freely.
Six of the family have died and one has survived. The sixth family member was buried before tests could be carried out.
"This is the largest cluster of cases, closely related in time and place, reported to date in any country ...," the World Health Organization said in a statement.
The U.N. agency said exposure to infected poultry or an environment contaminated by their feces was the most plausible source.
"The possibility of limited human-to-human transmission cannot be ruled out at present," the WHO said, but added: "If human-to-human transmission has occurred, it has not been either efficient or sustained."
I Nyoman Kandun, the Indonesian health ministry's director-general of communicable disease control, said there was no proof of H5N1 virus transmission between people in Indonesia.
"I guarantee Indonesia is not covering up. A cover-up has more harm than benefits. By opening up, we are actually welcoming contribution from everywhere."
He also called on leaders at all levels in the country to step up efforts to raise awareness among the public.
TIME BOMB
"There are so many people who do not know what has happened. Even the educated do not know the situation is like a time bomb," Kandun said.
Thirty-one people have died of bird flu in Indonesia, the second-highest toll of any country. More than half that number have died this year.
Egypt confirmed a sixth death on Thursday, a 75-year-old woman from Minya in the south.
H5N1 has killed 122 people worldwide since re-appearing in 2003. Virtually all the victims caught the disease from poultry.
Denmark on Thursday halted exports of poultry from Funen after birds on a farm on the island tested positive for the H5 strain of avian flu. The outbreak may force Denmark to halt all poultry exports.
n Russia, the H5N1 bird flu virus was found in six dead chickens in Siberia, where more than 80 dead birds have been found since the end of April, a regional health official said.
Indonesian Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said a number of pigs from the village 50 km (30 miles) south of Medan city, had tested positive.
"After we brought them to Bogor, the serology test found positive results. From 11 pig samples, 10 are positive. Reconfirmation testings are still underway," he said, but did not refer specifically to the H5N1 virus.
The minister's comments are likely to concern health officials. Pigs can act as mixing vessels in which human and bird flu viruses can swap genes, leading to a strain that can easily infect people and pass from person to person.
Clusters of human infections are worrying because they indicate that the virus might be mutating into a form that is easily transmissible among humans. That could spark a pandemic in which millions might die.
For the moment, the virus is mainly a disease in birds and is hard for humans to catch.
The WHO and the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization say better surveillance is crucial for rapid detection of outbreaks in birds and family clusters like the Sumatra case.
"If we do not hear about it for a couple of weeks and there are already a hundred or so cases, then it may be too late," WHO spokeswoman Maria Cheng said in Geneva.
"We heard about it relatively quickly (Sumatra). Indonesia has much higher awareness than other countries because they have been dealing with human cases for almost year now," she said.
http://today.reuters.com/News/newsA...=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=NewsArt-C1-ArticlePage3
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia pledged on Thursday there would be no cover-up if human-to-human transmission of bird flu does occur, after five members of a family were confirmed to have died from the H5N1 avian flu virus.
The case has baffled experts because the source of the virus has not been confirmed and human-to-human transmission cannot be ruled out.
But, offering a possible answer, Indonesia's agriculture minister said pigs had tested positive for bird flu in the same village in North Sumatra.
The family slaughtered animals for a barbecue feast in late April before the outbreak in Kubu Simbelang village where pigs and chickens live near homes and cats and dogs roam freely.
Six of the family have died and one has survived. The sixth family member was buried before tests could be carried out.
"This is the largest cluster of cases, closely related in time and place, reported to date in any country ...," the World Health Organization said in a statement.
The U.N. agency said exposure to infected poultry or an environment contaminated by their feces was the most plausible source.
"The possibility of limited human-to-human transmission cannot be ruled out at present," the WHO said, but added: "If human-to-human transmission has occurred, it has not been either efficient or sustained."
I Nyoman Kandun, the Indonesian health ministry's director-general of communicable disease control, said there was no proof of H5N1 virus transmission between people in Indonesia.
"I guarantee Indonesia is not covering up. A cover-up has more harm than benefits. By opening up, we are actually welcoming contribution from everywhere."
He also called on leaders at all levels in the country to step up efforts to raise awareness among the public.
TIME BOMB
"There are so many people who do not know what has happened. Even the educated do not know the situation is like a time bomb," Kandun said.
Thirty-one people have died of bird flu in Indonesia, the second-highest toll of any country. More than half that number have died this year.
Egypt confirmed a sixth death on Thursday, a 75-year-old woman from Minya in the south.
H5N1 has killed 122 people worldwide since re-appearing in 2003. Virtually all the victims caught the disease from poultry.
Denmark on Thursday halted exports of poultry from Funen after birds on a farm on the island tested positive for the H5 strain of avian flu. The outbreak may force Denmark to halt all poultry exports.
n Russia, the H5N1 bird flu virus was found in six dead chickens in Siberia, where more than 80 dead birds have been found since the end of April, a regional health official said.
Indonesian Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said a number of pigs from the village 50 km (30 miles) south of Medan city, had tested positive.
"After we brought them to Bogor, the serology test found positive results. From 11 pig samples, 10 are positive. Reconfirmation testings are still underway," he said, but did not refer specifically to the H5N1 virus.
The minister's comments are likely to concern health officials. Pigs can act as mixing vessels in which human and bird flu viruses can swap genes, leading to a strain that can easily infect people and pass from person to person.
Clusters of human infections are worrying because they indicate that the virus might be mutating into a form that is easily transmissible among humans. That could spark a pandemic in which millions might die.
For the moment, the virus is mainly a disease in birds and is hard for humans to catch.
The WHO and the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization say better surveillance is crucial for rapid detection of outbreaks in birds and family clusters like the Sumatra case.
"If we do not hear about it for a couple of weeks and there are already a hundred or so cases, then it may be too late," WHO spokeswoman Maria Cheng said in Geneva.
"We heard about it relatively quickly (Sumatra). Indonesia has much higher awareness than other countries because they have been dealing with human cases for almost year now," she said.
http://today.reuters.com/News/newsA...=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=NewsArt-C1-ArticlePage3