Bird flu suspected in woman's death

Bird flu suspected in woman's death

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A woman has died of suspected avian influenza, as the government
is preparing new measures to contain the virus which has killed
three people in the country.

Director General of Contagious Diseases and Environmental
Health Control I Nyoman Kandun said on Sunday the blood sample of
the woman, aged 37, would be sent to a WHO-sanctioned laboratory
in Hong Kong to confirm whether she died of avian influenza,
otherwise known as bird flu.

The procedure will last six days.

"We are waiting for confirmation as to whether she was killed
by the virus," Kandun said as quoted by Antara after a meeting
with Minister of Health Siti Fadilah Supari and WHO officials
here.

Kandun would not disclose the results of the unscheduled
meeting, but said the minister would provide the details in a
media conference on Monday.

The woman, identified only by her initials as RD, died on
Saturday of acute pneumonia at Bintaro Hospital in Tangerang,
Banten.

Medical workers at the hospital said she was already in a
serious condition when she was admitted there on Tuesday. Her
body has been sent to Semarang in Central Java for burial.

"The symptoms are similar to those found in Iwan and his
children," Kandun said.

Kandun was referring to State Audit Agency employee Iwan
Siswara and his two daughters who died in July. They were the
first fatalities due to the virus in the country. An
investigation found that Iwan had contracted the virus from a
pig.

The government will send a joint team of health ministry and
agriculture ministry officials, with assistance from WHO experts,
to RD's neighborhood.

Siti said her office and the agriculture ministry would
intensify coordination to contain the spread of the deadly H5N1
strain of avian influenza, which has so far killed 62 people in
Asia.

"According to WHO, all poultry located in the radius of three
kilometers from where an outbreak occurs must be culled," Siti
said.

Many farmers, she added, did not wish to slaughter their
poultry despite indications of infection.

"So don't lay the blame on the government alone," she said.

She called on the public to remain calm. She also said there
was no case of human-to-human transmission of the virus in the
country.

The government has launched a massive vaccination drive
against the disease.

Despite the WHO recommendation, the government conducted only
a minor cull in Legok area in Tangerang, following the death of
Iwan and his two children. Only 31 pigs and 40 ducks confirmed to
be infected with avian influenza were slaughtered.

The government cited a lack of funds to compensate farmers as
the reason for its failure to follow WHO advice.

WHO officials have warned that the virus could mutate and mix
with human influenza, creating a deadly, easily transmittable,
pandemic strain that could kill millions of people, following the
deaths due to the H5N1 strain in Indonesia.

The virus has spread to 21 Indonesian provinces out of 33
since late 2003, killing more than 9.5 million poultry.