Breeders get free bird flu vaccine

Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post, Grobogan

Poultry breeders in Grobogan regency, Central Java, have received 300,000 doses of bird flu vaccine for free after the highly pathogenic virus killed more than 350 chickens at a poultry farm in Kranggan Harjo village last week.

"The vaccine has been distributed to the breeders. We have asked for one million doses but that amount will be provided in stages," said head of the Grobogan husbandry and fisheries office, Gembong Murdowo, on Monday.

"We don't want to repeat the same mistake in which 400,000 chickens were killed here in 2003. The moment we were certain that the virus attacked a farm in Toroh district, we immediately requested vaccine assistance from the central government," he added.

Gembong said the distribution of the free vaccine was focused on five districts considered to be prone to the spread of bird flu -- Toroh, Grobogan, Penawangan, Karangrayung and Tegowanu. There are 19 districts in Grobogan.

Speaking to reporters in Grobogan, he said that only layers were being infected at the moment.

"The incubation period for the virus is 14 days to 20 days. There is a possibility that chickens bred for their meat had been infected as well, but may had already been sold before showing symptoms. The H5NI bird flu virus is not harmful to humans as long as the meat is well-cooked," Gembon said.

Data from the Ministry of Agriculture shows that during the August 2003-July 2004 period, at least 8,178,493 poultry died of bird flu in Central Java.

The date indicated that the total number of poultry deaths from the epidemic reached a total of 16,237,635 in 16 provinces throughout the country.

Central Java was the worst province hit by the bird flu. The total number of poultry throughout the country stands at 242,923,094 as of last month.

Gembong said the bird flu had actually hit Penawangan district in April this year, in which 750 layers were culled. "However, the case was not noticed by reporters," he added.

Many poultry farmers in Grobogan were forced to quit their business due to the bird flu epidemic in 2003. Among the victims were Gde Komang Sudiarta, a breeder in Grobogan who had 15,000 chickens.

A similar situation also happened to Slamet who had 750 chickens, and Yadi who had 3,000 chickens. The two farmers were traumatized by the bird flu epidemic and decided to quit the business.

The carcasses of the dead chickens had been burned to prevent the virus from spreading.

No Indonesians are reported to have been infected by the virus, while at least 30 people have died of bird flu in Vietnam and Thailand since the start of a major outbreak late last year.

Last July, the Indonesian government launched a major vaccination program to eradicate bird flu which was lingering in some districts.

Officials said the virus had resurfaced because some farmers had neglected procedures by using illegal vaccines and restocking their poultry too early.