Bird flu endemic to Indonesia: OIE

Bird flu endemic to Indonesia: OIE

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) has declared
Indonesia an endemic country for avian influenza, but the
government is still determined to achieve its target of being
free of bird flu by 2007, a minister says.

"It is a sad decision for us considering that bird flu cases
are on the decline, especially since last year," Minister of
Agriculture Anton Apriyantono said on Monday.

The OIE's declaration implies that Indonesia remains a country
with a high risk for future outbreaks, he said.

Anton said that despite the disheartening OIE assessment, it
would not deter the government from its drive to overcome and
eliminate bird flu from the country.

"This will instead encourage us to fight bird flu even harder,
be it by enhancing bio-security or isolation," he said, adding
that the ministry had not revised its target of being bird-flu
free by 2007.

According to data from the ministry, 16.2 million birds died
of the virus last year, while from January to March of this year
a reported 281,730 birds have died of the virus in 10 regencies
in South Sulawesi, West Java and Central Java.

Responding to the ministry's discovery of the bird flu virus
in pigs in Tangerang, Banten province, Anton said he had ordered
all pigs on the contaminated farm to be slaughtered.

"We found the virus in small pig farms located next to poultry
farms. To prevent similar cases, we have asked pig farms across
the country to be relocated a certain distance away from any
poultry farm," he said.