WHO urges solid action plan to prevent bird flu<\/p>\n
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned the government
\nthat the longer it takes to implement preventive measures to
\nhandle the bird flu outbreak, the greater the possibility for
\npoultry and humans to contract the virus.<\/p>\n
WHO Indonesia representative Georg Petersen told The Jakarta
\nPost on Friday that the government needed a thorough action plan
\nto control the further spread of the disease and it needed to be
\ndone perfectly to eliminate the disease in the country.<\/p>\n
Many fear that the bird flu virus may mutate into a new bird-
\nto-human strain that could lead to a global pandemic if no
\nimmediate measures are taken to contain the disease.<\/p>\n
WHO has criticized Indonesia for its delayed reaction to the
\noutbreak and for making conflicting statements as to its policy.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's neglect was evident in its confirmation of the
\noutbreak in January, months after the virus had already infected
\nand killed millions of chickens. The first case of bird flu was
\nrecorded in August 2003.<\/p>\n
Following the regional bird flu meeting on Jan. 28 in Bangkok,
\nIndonesia initially rejected a mass culling and agreed only to
\nvaccinate chickens. The government did an about-face and ordered
\na selective culling on Jan. 29, pressured by international
\ncriticism and WHO.<\/p>\n
With a population of 216 million spread across over 17,000
\nislands, the country is facing an uphill task in implementing
\nmeasures to control the disease.<\/p>\n
Director of the Veterinary Community Bachtiar Moerad at the
\nMinistry of Agriculture said on Friday that vaccination was the
\nkey method being used to prevent the outbreak from escalating.<\/p>\n
\"Selective culling is only undertaken in new areas that had
\nnot been affected by the bird flu previously,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, health ministry spokesperson Mariani Reksoprojo
\nsaid the ministry's surveillance team was continuing to monitor
\nhospitals across the country for any human cases.<\/p>\n
\"Although we are also dealing with a dengue fever outbreak,
\nthis does not mean that we are neglecting the bird flu. We have
\nseparate monitoring teams,\" she said.<\/p>\n
According to the latest information, no human cases of bird
\nflu have been reported in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Bird flu has claimed 15 lives in Vietnam and seven in
\nThailand.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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