City takes proactive stance over bird flu

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Aside from relying on tipoffs from people about bird flu cases found in their neighborhoods, the Jakarta administration has started taking more active measures to contain the spread of the deadly virus by launching a random monitoring operation.

"Besides receiving complaints from people over suspected bird flu cases, we also carry out random checks on birds in several areas to spot birds infected with avian influenza," Central Jakarta Mayor Muhayat told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Once the officers find any infected birds through a quick blood test, Muhayat said, they would immediately kill the birds without requiring laboratory tests to confirm the presence of the virus.

"Further tests means higher costs and more time. We cannot afford that. That's why we have to react swiftly to prevent the spread of the virus to humans," he asserted.

Central Jakarta is a priority municipality in the capital since central government offices, national and foreign companies and foreign embassies are located there.

The concern of the administration over the bird flu outbreak has reached new heights after it discovered infected birds in seven of 20 subdistricts tested for the virus, predicting that cases in many more areas would be found as monitoring continued. East Jakarta had the highest cases -- with five subdistricts, while North Jakarta and West Jakarta had one infected subdistrict each.

"All five municipalities have been told to conduct random monitoring as a standard operating procedure to contain the bird flu outbreak simultaneously here," Muhayat asserted.

The Central Jakarta municipal administration killed nine birds, mostly pigeons, in Pegangsaan subdistrict near the elite residential area of Menteng over the weekend after the officers discovered birds infected by avian influenza.

"We are also intensifying our monitoring of the health of birds at the National Monument Park (Monas)," he added.

Monas is home to at least 800 pigeons after the administration released them early this year to beautify the park. Wild pigeons can also be found in several other parks in Central Jakarta, including Suropati park in Menteng.

Head of the Central Jakarta Animal Husbandry Office, Sigit Budiharjo, said his officers also found dozens of birds in Menteng infected with the virus earlier last week.

"We culled them right away," Sigit said.

Muhayat also urged the residents to help inform officers about residents who keep birds or chickens at their homes so that his officers could vaccinate the birds.

The World Health Organization-sanctioned laboratory in Hong Kong has confirmed 12 bird flu cases in Indonesia to date. Seven people have died from the virus.

The last two people to have contracted avian influenza were from Utan Kayu in East Jakarta, and Sunter Jaya in North Jakarta respectively.

Both were believed to have been infected by sick birds in their neighborhoods.