Published Date: 2008-03-31 18:00:19
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Avian influenza, human (40): Indonesia
Archive Number: 20080331.1193
AVIAN INFLUENZA, HUMAN (40): INDONESIA
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A ProMED-mail post
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International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>
Daate: Mon 31 Mar 2008
Source: Reuters Nes [edited]
<http://www.reuters.com/article/africaCrisis/idUSJAK302298>
Two Indonesian youths die of bird flu
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Two Indonesian youths have died from bird flu, a health ministry
official said on Monday [31 Mar 2008], taking the confirmed death
toll in the country worst affected by the virus to 107.
A 15-year-old boy from Subang, in West Java, died on Wednesday [26
Mar 2008] in an area where chickens had died, said Nyoman Kandun,
director general of communicable disease control at the ministry.
An 11-year-old girl from Bekasi, east of Jakarta, who died on Friday
[28 Mar 2008] also tested positive for the virus, the official said.
"There were dead chickens in the boy's neighbourhood, but in the
girl's case it is still unclear," Kandun said via a mobile phone
text message. Kandun dismissed the possibility of more bird flu
cases in the same family after the boy's brother died recently.
Confirmed cluster cases would raise concerns over human-to-human
transmission. "It is not correct that there is a cluster in Subang,"
Kandun said, adding that the brother has died of dengue fever.
Earlier on Monday, a 22-month-old girl from Sumatra's Bukit Tinggi
tested positive for bird flu and the health ministry was checking her
neighbourhood for possible backyard farming. "Her condition is
improving, and she is being treated at a Padang hospital," Lily
Sulistyowati, a health ministry spokeswoman, said by telephone.
Including the latest deaths, Indonesia has had 132 confirmed cases
of the virus. Contact with sick fowl is the most common way
of contracting the H5N1 virus, which is endemic in bird populations
in most of Indonesia. According to United Nations' Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO) data on March 19, bird flu has
infected 31 out of 33 provinces in Indonesia.
[Byline: Mita Valina Liem]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Mary Marshall
[These 3 new human cases of H5N1 avian influenza raise the Indonesia
total to 132, and the number of fatalities to 107. The global total
of cases becomes 376 and the global death toll 238.
None of these 3 new Indonesia cases are related. They occurred in
Subang (West Java), the Jakarta area and in Sumatra. The death of a
brother of one of the cases has been attributed to dengue fever,
excluding the possibility of a cluster. The interactive HealthMap
of Indonesia can be accessed at <http://healthmap.org/promed?
v=-2.6,120.9,5>. - Mod.CP]