Two 'bird flu' victims die, three more hospitalized<\/p>\n
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Two suspected bird flu patients, identified as Riska Hardiyati,
\n5, and Yessica Triana, 2, died on Wednesday after being treated
\nat the Sulianti Saroso hospital in Sunter, North Jakarta, and
\nCikini Hospital in Central Jakarta respectively since Tuesday
\nafternoon.<\/p>\n
Riska, who was moved to the Sulianti Saroso Hospital after
\nbeing treated at the Cempaka Putih Islamic Hospital in East
\nJakarta since Sept. 15, was taken by her family to be buried in
\ntheir hometown in Cilacap, Central Java.<\/p>\n
The Sulianti Saroso Hospital's deputy director Sardikin Giri
\nPutro said that unless the health ministry laboratory declared
\notherwise, the hospital would state the cause of death as acute
\npneumonia.<\/p>\n
"We must wait the results of the laboratory tests by the
\nMinistry of Health as we have sent Riska's blood sample to them.
\nRight now, we suspect that she died of acute pneumonia," he said.<\/p>\n
Sardikin said Riska came to the hospital with symptoms of bird
\nflu, including a high temperature, respiratory problems, acute
\npneumonia and a low leukocyte count.<\/p>\n
She was suspected of having been infected by the bird flu
\nvirus after a chicken in her neighborhood died.<\/p>\n
The hospital has treated Riska's remains as being potentially
\ncontaminated by bird flu, and her body was wrapped in plastic
\nbefore being placed in a coffin.<\/p>\n
All of Riska's family members, including her mother Maryati
\nand father Suhardi, wore masks when they came to see her for the
\nlast time.<\/p>\n
The hospital also asked family members to carefully bury her
\nbody and requested the Cilacap health agency to monitor Riska's
\nburial.<\/p>\n
Another suspected bird flu victim was named as Yessica, who
\nreceived treatment at Cikini Hospital after the Sulianti Saroso
\nHospital, which only has room for four patients in its emergency
\nunit, refused to treat her. She died at 5:00 a.m.<\/p>\n
The Cikini hospital said they had sent a sample of her saliva
\nto the Ministry of Health laboratory.<\/p>\n
Earlier, the government confirmed that four people had died of
\navian influenza.<\/p>\n
Last week, the government said that Rini Dini Prasetyaningsih,
\n37, who died earlier, tested positive for the H5N1 strain of the
\nbird flu virus. In July, Iwan Siswara and his two daughters from
\nTangerang, Banten, died of the virus.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Sulianti Saroso Hospital received three new
\npatients on Wednesday suspected of having been infected with bird
\nflu.<\/p>\n
DW, 17, was brought by her family, who live in Cijantung, East
\nJakarta, to the hospital at 11:00 a.m. after she started coughing
\nand suffering from respiratory problems and a high temperature.<\/p>\n
Her family said that she had developed the symptoms after 19
\nof their chickens and four songbirds died recently.<\/p>\n
At 11:30 a.m., another suspected bird flu patient from Bekasi,
\nWest Java, identified as JM, 9, was brought to the hospital. JM
\nrecently visited Ragunan zoo, which has been closed by the
\ngovernment since Monday after 19 of its captive birds tested
\npositive for avian flu.<\/p>\n
Later at 3:30 p.m., Wed, 18, who was running a high
\ntemperature, was taken to the Sulianti Saroso Hospital from the
\nPondok Kopi Islamic Hospital in East Jakarta.<\/p>\n
With the three new patients, the Sulianti Saroso Hospital is
\nnow treating nine patients, with the others being WL, 3, F, 9, R,
\n3, AS, 28, an employee of Ragunan zoo, AM, 39, a street vendor at
\nthe zoo and MG, 7.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/two-bird-flu-victims-die-three-more-hospitalized-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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