sharon sanders
Editor-in-Chief & President
Indonesia, World Health Discuss Bird Flu Control Plan (Update1) June 21 (Bloomberg) -- Indonesian officials began a meeting with world health authorities today to help fight bird flu, which has killed a person every six days in the nation this year.
Keiji Fukuda, the coordinator of the World Health Organization's global influenza program, and other experts will advise the government on ways to gain better control of the H5N1 flu strain that's spread in poultry to most of the country's 33 provinces. The Southeast Asian nation accounts for a third of the 130 human H5N1 fatalities reported worldwide since late 2003.
``We want to pose the question to experts: this is the reality, so what do we need to do next?'' Bayu Krisnamurti, secretary of a government-appointed committee on avian and pandemic flu, said in an interview before the three-day meeting in the capital, Jakarta. ``We want to see if the implementation of our strategic plan needs to be refined.''
Diseased fowl increase the risk for humans and provide more chances for the virus to mutate into a pandemic form capable of killing millions of people. Disease trackers are monitoring for H5N1, described by some scientists as the most lethal avian flu strain yet recorded, which has spread in birds to almost 40 countries in Asia, Europe and Africa this year.
Zambia in southern Africa is investigating a possible avian flu outbreak after more than 40 wild birds were found dead at a Victoria Falls resort town, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday. A laboratory in the capital, Lusaka, is testing the dead birds discovered over the past two days, AFP said, citing Jack Shoko, chief veterinary officer in the town of Livingstone.
To date, H5N1 has infected 228 people in 10 countries, killing 130 of them, the WHO said yesterday. Indonesia has reported 34 cases, including 28 fatalities, this year alone.
Indonesia's Strategy
Indonesia's strategy of using animal vaccines, disinfecting coops and incinerating dead birds hasn't prevented the disease from becoming endemic in the country that has 1.3 billion poultry.
The government hasn't raised sufficient public awareness of the dangers of the H5N1 virus and can't properly fund its avian flu programs, particularly those aimed at controlling the virus in poultry, Krisnamurti said.
Indonesia must focus on culling poultry to eradicate the disease and control its spread, Tri Satya Putri Naipospos, vice chairwoman of the government's avian and pandemic flu committee, said on June 19.
Surveillance of the disease should be given higher priority, the World Bank said this month, adding that there is a mismatch between the government's national avian flu plan and the allocation of funding. The 2006 national budget includes 555 billion rupiah ($59 million) for avian flu, of which a third is for animal health and two-thirds for human health, it said.
Backyards
Indonesia has about 70,000 villages spread across 17,000 islands. Poultry are raised in the backyards of about 80 percent of the country's 55 million households, said John Budd, head of communications with the United Nation's Children's Fund, or UNICEF, in Jakarta.
The nation of 238 million people confirmed its 51st human H5N1 case yesterday. The country attracted international attention last month, after seven members of a family from the island of Sumatra were infected. They represent the largest reported instance in which H5N1 may have been spread among people and the first evidence of a three-person chain of infection.
Today, Indonesian officials will meet representatives from the United Nations health and agriculture agencies, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, European Center for Disease Control, Epicentre France and Japan's National Institute for Infectious Diseases to assess the avian flu situation.
``With this consultation, Indonesia is taking another step to assess how best to protect the health of its people,'' Paul Gully, a senior adviser for communicable diseases at the WHO, said in a statement yesterday. ``The results will certainly be of great importance to all worldwide, who are eyeing the risk of the next pandemic.''
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000101&sid=aCArWAVGRzmg&refer=japan#
Keiji Fukuda, the coordinator of the World Health Organization's global influenza program, and other experts will advise the government on ways to gain better control of the H5N1 flu strain that's spread in poultry to most of the country's 33 provinces. The Southeast Asian nation accounts for a third of the 130 human H5N1 fatalities reported worldwide since late 2003.
``We want to pose the question to experts: this is the reality, so what do we need to do next?'' Bayu Krisnamurti, secretary of a government-appointed committee on avian and pandemic flu, said in an interview before the three-day meeting in the capital, Jakarta. ``We want to see if the implementation of our strategic plan needs to be refined.''
Diseased fowl increase the risk for humans and provide more chances for the virus to mutate into a pandemic form capable of killing millions of people. Disease trackers are monitoring for H5N1, described by some scientists as the most lethal avian flu strain yet recorded, which has spread in birds to almost 40 countries in Asia, Europe and Africa this year.
Zambia in southern Africa is investigating a possible avian flu outbreak after more than 40 wild birds were found dead at a Victoria Falls resort town, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday. A laboratory in the capital, Lusaka, is testing the dead birds discovered over the past two days, AFP said, citing Jack Shoko, chief veterinary officer in the town of Livingstone.
To date, H5N1 has infected 228 people in 10 countries, killing 130 of them, the WHO said yesterday. Indonesia has reported 34 cases, including 28 fatalities, this year alone.
Indonesia's Strategy
Indonesia's strategy of using animal vaccines, disinfecting coops and incinerating dead birds hasn't prevented the disease from becoming endemic in the country that has 1.3 billion poultry.
The government hasn't raised sufficient public awareness of the dangers of the H5N1 virus and can't properly fund its avian flu programs, particularly those aimed at controlling the virus in poultry, Krisnamurti said.
Indonesia must focus on culling poultry to eradicate the disease and control its spread, Tri Satya Putri Naipospos, vice chairwoman of the government's avian and pandemic flu committee, said on June 19.
Surveillance of the disease should be given higher priority, the World Bank said this month, adding that there is a mismatch between the government's national avian flu plan and the allocation of funding. The 2006 national budget includes 555 billion rupiah ($59 million) for avian flu, of which a third is for animal health and two-thirds for human health, it said.
Backyards
Indonesia has about 70,000 villages spread across 17,000 islands. Poultry are raised in the backyards of about 80 percent of the country's 55 million households, said John Budd, head of communications with the United Nation's Children's Fund, or UNICEF, in Jakarta.
The nation of 238 million people confirmed its 51st human H5N1 case yesterday. The country attracted international attention last month, after seven members of a family from the island of Sumatra were infected. They represent the largest reported instance in which H5N1 may have been spread among people and the first evidence of a three-person chain of infection.
Today, Indonesian officials will meet representatives from the United Nations health and agriculture agencies, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, European Center for Disease Control, Epicentre France and Japan's National Institute for Infectious Diseases to assess the avian flu situation.
``With this consultation, Indonesia is taking another step to assess how best to protect the health of its people,'' Paul Gully, a senior adviser for communicable diseases at the WHO, said in a statement yesterday. ``The results will certainly be of great importance to all worldwide, who are eyeing the risk of the next pandemic.''
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000101&sid=aCArWAVGRzmg&refer=japan#
