Bird flu vaccine sufficient: Ministry<\/p>\n
Eva C. Komandjaja and Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
The supply of bird flu vaccines for poultry in the country is
\nsufficient to help prevent a further spread of the highly
\npathogenic virus amid the reemergence of new cases, an official
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Director General for Animal Husbandry at the Ministry of
\nAgriculture Mathur Riady told The Jakarta Post on Friday that the
\nMinistry had distributed around 126 million doses of bird flu
\nvaccine to animal husbandry offices across the country,
\nespecially in areas with the worst infection case.<\/p>\n
\"We also have around 52 million doses of vaccines,\" Mathur
\nsaid. He added that those vaccines were left over from last
\nyear's vaccination program, which was launched following the
\nfirst bird flu outbreak late in 2003, killing millions of
\nchickens in the country.<\/p>\n
Although the vaccine was considered enough for the chicken
\npopulation, estimated at around 4.7 million last year, Mathur
\nsaid vaccinations would be combined with a selective cull \"since
\nit will be very expensive and ineffective if we stick to
\nvaccinations only.\"<\/p>\n
\"We recorded that bird flu cases dropped in December last year
\nbut suddenly the number increased rapidly this year,\" he added.<\/p>\n
He blamed traditional farmers who did not use standard
\npreventive measures at their farms, which caused the virus to
\nspread rapidly from one place to another place.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the government ordered a cull of healthy birds
\nwithin a radius of three kilometers from any infected area, and
\nset aside emergency funds to compensate farmers.<\/p>\n
Mathur said that the ministry would use its emergency funds to
\nfinance the vaccination program and provide compensation for
\nfarmers whose poultry had to be slaughtered.<\/p>\n
\"Our emergency funds currently stand at Rp 130 billion
\n(US$13.6 million) and we're planning to use half for combating
\nthe disease,\" Mathur said. The Minister was seeking approval from
\nthe House of Representatives, he added.<\/p>\n
Concerns over the impact of bird flu disease on humans
\nreemerged after the government confirmed this week the first
\nhuman fatalities in Indonesia, killing a man and his two young
\nchildren. But it remains unclear how they contracted the deadly
\nH5N1 virus, which can only be transmitted to humans via sick
\nbirds.<\/p>\n
Separately, Minister of Agriculture Anton Apriyanto said that
\nthe government would ban swine farms located near infected
\npoultry farms amid fears that the virus could also be transmitted
\nfrom sick birds to pigs, a case which could cause the virus to
\nmutate into a more deadlier form, possibly one that could be
\neasily transmitted between humans.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/bird-flu-vaccine-sufficient-ministry-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}