Health ministry yet to carry out bird flu checks

Health ministry yet to carry out bird flu checks

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

With the regional death toll from bird flu rising to seven with
another confirmed death in Vietnam on Saturday, the Ministry of
Health acknowledged it has yet to carry out a nationwide check to
determine if an outbreak exists in the country.

Director general for infectious disease eradication at the
Ministry of Health Umar Fahmi Ismail said on Saturday that checks
would likely be made in Jakarta, the Riau islands, East Java and
possibly elsewhere.

"We shall make sure first whether our team is ready to carry
out the checks, including that financial support is available.
Afterward we can send out teams to a number of locations."

Similar checks have been made on other occasions to detect
diseases such as hepatitis.

Umar called on the public to be aware of the dangers of bird
flu, particularly those working at or near livestock farms.

"So far, nobody in Indonesia has been reported as suffering
from bird flu," he said.

The public should also understand that the flu would not be
spread either from one human to another or by consuming cooked
chicken meat. "But the flu can spread from live chickens to
humans," he said.

Officials have acknowledged that a virus has killed thousands
of chickens on Bali in the past three months, but insisted that
no traces of bird flu have been found. They blamed it on
Newcastle disease, a highly contagious avian disease which is not
harmful to people.

However, the OIE, a Paris-based intergovernmental organization
compiling data on animal diseases, notes on its website that many
of Newcastle's symptoms are similar to those for avian flu.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the bird
flu outbreak could be more deadly than last year's SARS epidemic.
Describing the outbreak as "historically unprecedented", the
organization has expressed fears the virus could create a new,
virulent strain of influenza, Reuters reported.

WHO says anyone exposed to the disease should be quarantined
to avoid contact with sufferers of regular human influenza.

Umar said that the Ministry of Health sent on Saturday an
instruction letter to all provincial offices to raise their
awareness of bird flu and to report all flu-like symptoms to the
ministry. The letter was the second issued by the ministry.

In the event of an outbreak, the agriculture ministry would be
responsible for keeping the public informed, an official said.

"It relates to poultry disease, although it could possibly
infect humans, it would be the responsibility of the Ministry of
Agriculture," director of veterinary community of the ministry
Bachtiar Moerad told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

Separately, Minister of Agriculture Bungaran Saragih said the
government had taken safety measures in anticipation of poultry
imports affected with diseases such as bird flu or anthrax.

In a visit to the Citeureup Recreational Gardens in Bogor,
West Java, Saragih said the government had banned poultry from
countries affected by bird flu, including Vietnam and Thailand.

The government also sought to calm fears of other husbandry
disease outbreaks before the Islamic Day of Sacrifice on Feb. 1.

"We plan to field 300 veterinary students, veterinarians from
the animal husbandry service to monitor animals to be slaughtered
for the religious offering," Director General for Development of
Animal Husbandry Production Sofjan Sudradjat told Antara news
agency, specifying attention to areas prone to anthrax.

Meanwhile, WHO confirmed another death in Vietnam from the
bird flu virus, and two new cases of bird flu in Ho Chi Minh
City, which previously had not reported any patients. A 13-year-
old-boy died on Jan. 22, bringing the toll to as many as seven.

Thailand, one of the world's top five poultry exporters, will
host a meeting beginning on Wednesday of agriculture and health
ministers from bird flu-affected countries.