RI not taking bird flu seriously: FAO<\/p>\n
Samantha Brown, Agence France-Presse\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
The head of a special UN team sent to help Indonesia fight bird
\nflu warned that the country had not done enough to contain the
\nvirus.<\/p>\n
The fight against the H5N1 strain must be quickly boosted
\nbecause the season when it easily spreads has begun, said Peter
\nRoeder, an animal health expert heading the UN Food and
\nAgricultural Organization (FAO) bird flu team here.<\/p>\n
\"It's not taken seriously enough by the people in this country
\nbecause they're not aware of how serious the situation is,\"
\nRoeder told AFP on Monday.<\/p>\n
His statement came as the fifth human bird flu human fatality
\nwas confirmed.<\/p>\n
\"What everyone has to realize is this is extremely urgent. The
\nreason is we're in November, which is the start of the epidemic
\nseason for avian and human influenza,\" he told AFP.<\/p>\n
\"This could provide the conditions for the emergence of a
\npandemic strain, so reducing any risk is very much an emergency
\nissue, which needs to be done quickly.\"<\/p>\n
Indonesia has reported nine human infections of the highly
\npathogenic strain since July. The virus has killed 63 people in
\nSoutheast Asia since 2003.<\/p>\n
Scientists warn that continued contact between infected birds
\nand humans might eventually result in the virus mutating into a
\nform that could be easily passed on by humans, sparking a
\npandemic that would kill millions.<\/p>\n
The Rome-based FAO has already expressed concern at a lack of
\nawareness in Indonesia's suburban and rural communities about the
\nthreat posed by the virus.<\/p>\n
Roeder said the FAO had devised an action plan in the past few
\nweeks and was now setting up four disease control centers on Java
\nisland and establishing disease surveillance teams, which may
\ninvolve several thousand people.<\/p>\n
\"What we're proposing to do is have a cascade of awareness and
\ntraining, starting with our disease control centers,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Directors of the centers will train trainers who will then fan
\nout to the district level to teach locals about searching for the
\ndisease.<\/p>\n
Those teams will work together to set up village disease
\nsearch programs. If they find evidence of disease, then they will
\nsearch house-to-house, he said.<\/p>\n
If the approach works on Java -- where most of the infections
\nhave so far occurred -- it would probably be extended elsewhere,
\nRoeder said.<\/p>\n
Joseph Domenech, head of the FAO's veterinary service who
\nannounced the dispatch of Roeder's team late last month, said his
\nagency is very much concerned about the presence of the virus in
\nthe small flocks of millions of backyard poultry farmers.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's overall response to date has been \"inadequate, but
\nno one would pretend otherwise,\" Roeder said, noting that the
\ngovernment was \"doing the best it can within the structures they
\nhave, but those structures need to change.\"<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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