2 more bird flu deaths confirmed<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesia's bird flu death toll has risen to 11 amid worrying new
\nevidence that the virus may be developing resistance to Tamiflu,
\nthe only drug known to be effective against it.<\/p>\n
Test results from a World Health Organization-affiliated
\nlaboratory in Hong Kong showed on Thursday that a 39-year-old
\nIndonesian man and an eight-year-old boy were the country's
\nlatest victims of the H5N1 strain of the virus.<\/p>\n
\"It's been confirmed. We were informed of the results this
\nmorning,\" Ilham Patu, a spokesman for Sulianti Saroso hospital,
\nthe main center here for the treatment of bird flu, told AFP.<\/p>\n
The country routinely sends samples of cases that test
\npositive locally to Hong Kong for verification.<\/p>\n
The man, a resident of South Jakarta, died on Dec. 13, a day
\nafter being admitted to the hospital, while the boy died two days
\nlater at a private hospital in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Most victims have come from densely-populated Jakarta, where
\nmany people still live in close proximity to poultry, providing
\nideal conditions for the virus to pass to humans.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of officials and veterinary students began visiting
\nhouses across the capital on Thursday, looking for sick poultry
\nas part of a nationwide campaign to fight the disease,
\nagriculture ministry official Makmur said.<\/p>\n
\"The surveillance is aimed at monitoring poultry that may be
\ninfected with bird flu,\" he said, adding that the students were
\ntrained last month by experts from the UN Food and Agriculture
\nOrganization.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile in Vietnam, bird flu has become resistant to the
\nantiviral drug Tamiflu in two fatal cases, a doctor said in what
\nhe described as a worrying development.<\/p>\n
Tamiflu is considered a frontline defense against bird flu and
\nthe most effective treatment available to counter the H5N1
\nstrain.<\/p>\n
Menno de Jong, from the Institute of Tropical Diseases in
\nsouthern Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City, said Tamiflu was ineffective
\nin fighting the virus in two girls who died despite being given
\nfull doses of the drug.<\/p>",
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