Flu vaccines low, farmers get jitters

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.