Jakarta teenager with bird flu symptoms dies

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A 16-year-old girl admitted to the Agung Hospital in Manggarai, South Jakarta last Sunday with bird flu symptoms died on Tuesday morning.

Heru Sundaru, one of the doctors who treated Siti Sarah, said the high-school student died of complications due to high fever, acute pneumonia and a rapid drop in lymphocyte cells.

"She died of acute pneumonia. Her blood sample has been sent to the Ministry of Health's laboratory to see whether she was infected by avian influenza virus," Heru told The Jakarta Post later on Tuesday.

Heru explained that doctors in the hospital initially treated Siti as a dengue patient because when she arrived at the hospital last Sunday she had a temperature of 39 degrees Celsius, but showed no signs of respiratory problems.

However, several hours later, the girl, who lived with her parents in Utan Kayu, East Jakarta, had difficulty breathing. Only after an X-ray was taken, it was found out that she had acute pneumonia.

Worried that Siti might have bird flu, the hospital then contacted the Jakarta Health Agency and the Sulianti Saroso hospital in North Jakarta for further treatment.

However, the girl died at 10 a.m. on Tuesday before officials from the health agency and the Sulianti Saroso hospital arrived.

Spokesman and bird flu surveillance head of the Sulianti Saroso hospital, Ilham Patu, said that based on the symptoms it could be surmised that Siti was infected by bird flu virus.

"Our experience here in the hospital tells us that high fever accompanied by acute pneumonia and a drastic drop of lymphocyte cells indicates that she was infected by bird flu virus. However, we should wait for test results from the health ministry's laboratory," he told the Post.

Patu said that his suspicion was also based on the fact that the girl lived in a residential area in East Jakarta near a major bird market and her parents kept several birds at home.

Siti said that if Siti tested positive for bird flu, then her blood sample would be sent to the WHO-sanctioned laboratory in Hong Kong for confirmation.

If the sample tests positive, Siti will be the sixth human fatality in Indonesia. WHO has so far listed nine bird flu cases in the country, including five deaths.

Sulianti Saroso hospital announced on Monday that eight-year old Ilham Junaidi, the brother of Ina Sholati who died of bird flu in late October, had tested positive for bird flu.

Besides Ilham, Ina's daughter, her nephew and a nurse that treated Ina are also hospitalized at Sulianti Saroso.

Meanwhile, officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Health took blood and saliva samples from 14 close relatives and neighbors of Ina in Tangerang, Banten on Tuesday.

They also took blood samples from 45 fowl and other birds kept in the houses of Ina's parents and parents-in-law.

"We need to know whether people, birds and chickens in Ina's neighborhood have been infected by bird flu virus so that we can determine how the virus has spread," head of the disease evaluation section at the Ministry of Health, Tato Suharto, told the Post.