WORLD / Asia-Pacific
WHO confirms six bird flu cases in Indonesia
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-05-17 15:38
JAKARTA - The World Health Organisation confirmed six more human cases
of bird flu infections in Indonesia on Wednesday, including five members
of a family whose case has triggered fears of human-to-human transmission.
"There are six confirmations. One from Surabaya and five from Medan. One
from Medan is still alive," said Sari Setiogi, the WHO's Indonesia
spokeswoman.
An outbreak of H5N1 bird flu involving up to eight members of a family at
Medan in North Sumatra province has worried health agencies around the
world but a Health Ministry official said on Wednesday it was not a case
of human-to-human transmission.
"The spread was through risk factors from poultry or other animals. There
is no proof of human to human," Nyoman Kandun, director-general of
disease control, told Reuters.
"The world is watching us. We are not being hasty," he added.
Four of the five family members have died and samples from a further
three people believed to be part of the family cluster of infections are
still being tested.
The WHO has sent a team to the area near Medan. The agency said it was on
alert for signs the virus is mutating into one that can be easily
transmitted between people, a development that could signal the start of
a pandemic in which millions could die.
Such a mutation could occur anywhere there is bird flu, the WHO says.
Kandun said authorities were still trying to identify the source of the
virus in the cluster case in Kubu Simbelang village in Karo regency,
about 50 km (30 miles) south of Medan.
But an Indonesian agriculture official who declined to be named told
Reuters tests had shed no light on the case.
"There is a big question mark. Blood samples from all kinds of animals
from chickens, ducks, geese, birds, pigs, cats and dogs turned out
negative so far. Manure has also been checked. The result is negative,"
the Jakarta-based official said.
Some reports have suggested chicken manure used as fertiliser might be
the link. Infected birds can excrete large amounts of the H5N1 virus and
this can be one way it can spread to birds, and people.
The sixth of the cases confirmed on Wednesday was a 38-year-old catering
businesswoman from Surabaya who had dealt with live pigs and pork meat
before she died last week.
The latest deaths bring the number of Indonesians who have died from bird
flu to 30, by far the highest death rate in the world this year from the
disease.
Bird flu has killed 115 people worldwide, the majority in east Asia,
since reappearing in 2003. Virtually all the victims caught the disease
from poultry.
The H5N1 virus is endemic in much of Indonesia. On Tuesday a senior
Agriculture Ministry official said H5N1 had been detected for the first
time in poultry in remote eastern Papua province.
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