Flu vaccines low, farmers get jitters

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A week after the government declared the avian influenza outbreak an extraordinary situation, few measures have been taken to contain the disease.

There has been no mass cull of poultry in areas where the virus has claimed lives, while poultry farmers are beginning to complain about the shortage of vaccine.

The health ministry suspects that bird flu has affected 22 provinces in the country, with several towns in Java and South Sulawesi being the most seriously affected areas because of their high populations of poultry.

Antara reported that poultry farmers in the East Java town of Tulungagung were jittery about the limited supply of bird flu vaccine, following the sudden death of 1,400 laying pullets there two weeks ago.

Tulungagung administration spokesperson Achmad Pitoyo said there were only 30,000 doses of vaccine left for around two million chickens.

His area had previously received some 2.87 million doses but quickly ran out after they were distributed to the local farmers.

"We've asked for another two million doses to be distributed for free. They need to be for free because none of the farmers received compensation for poultry culls during the previous outbreak last year," Achmad said.

Southeast Sulawesi is also facing a lack of vaccines for over eight million poultry. The provincial agriculture agency has distributed only 182,000 doses of vaccine, following the sudden death of 1,200 chickens in Kendari recently, most likely due to avian influenza.

There are around 1 billion poultry and 290 million free-range chickens across the country, 60 percent of them in densely populated Java.

The WHO recommends a mass cull of fowls in a radius of three kilometers from where an infection is detected. The government has not taken the advice, citing lack of funds to pay farmers' compensation.

In Jakarta, the Sulianti Saroso Infectious Disease Hospital discharged five patients after they tested negative for bird flu virus on Sunday. The hospital said the patients were suffering from the common flu, lung or respiratory infections.

The five, however, will be required to report to the hospital regularly after they return home to monitor their condition.

They were 16 patients still at the hospital on Sunday with bird flu-like symptoms.

During the past three months, four have people died of the bird flu virus. Last week, a five-year-old girl who was suspected of suffering the disease died at the Sulianti Saroso hospital. Preliminary tests indicated she had not contracted the virus but confirmation from a Hong Kong laboratory will not come until Thursday.

Forty-four hospitals nationwide have been designated to treat bird flu patients.

Australia, meanwhile, has promised to finance 10,000 doses of Tamiflu for people infected with the virus in Indonesia and the Asia Pacific.