Japan gives more aid for RI bird flu battle

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Denpasar

Japan has sent more experts and medical equipment to help Indonesia fight bird flu, which has killed at least four people in western Java, the Japanese Embassy here said on Wednesday.

"The government of Japan has decided to send experts and medical meterials to support and strengthen counter-measures against Avian Influenza," the embassy said in a press statement.

It said three experts in laboratory diagnosis were scheduled to arrive in Indonesia later on Wednesday along with the first batch of medical materials.

Embassy officials could not be reached on Wednesday evening for confirmation whether the experts had already arrived.

Japan was also preparing to send more experts to Indonesia to help the government in areas such as surveillance, laboratory diagnosis and clinical management, the statement said.

Japan sent a five-member expert team to Indonesia in September, who stayed for about one week to provide advice on bird flu counter-measures.

Japan also presented the first batch of equipment -- which has a total value of US$216,000 (euro180,300) -- to the Health Ministry to boost its ability to identify and track down the origin of the H5N1 strain of the virus.

Japanese lab experts were quoted by AP as saying they would spend the next week installing a high-speed refrigerated microcentrifuge and other diagnostic equipment, as well as to train Indonesian health officials on how to use the equipment.

More supplies will arrive in the weeks ahead.

Bird flu has swept through poultry populations across Asia since 2003, resulting in the deaths or destruction of tens of millions of chickens, ducks and other fowl. It has also affected humans, killing more than 60 people in Southeast Asia.

Four people have been confirmed to have died of bird flu in Indonesia since the first case of human infection was discovered in June.

Meanwhile, authorities were looking into the deaths of dozens of backyard chickens on the resort island of Bali on Wednesday amid fears they may have had bird flu, officials and residents said.

The suspicious deaths of at least 20 chickens have worried residents in Padangsambian, a densely populated village in western Denpasar, over a possible outbreak of avian influenza in their neighborhood.

The deaths started five days ago in the residential area off Jalan Gunung Gede. A narrow, unpaved path connects the complex to the main street, and several chickens can be seen roaming freely on the dirt path.

"I don't know what's really happening. Suddenly one of my chickens died. And the following day, another two died. It continued until a total of seven chickens died. Now, I only have one chicken left," local resident Ni Komang Santini said.

Her neighbor I Wayan Partina provided a similar account. He lost four chickens in the last five days.

The panicked residents had either buried or burned the carcasses. However, some others instead threw the carcasses into a nearby river.

Ketut Santhia, the virology laboratory coordinator at the Bali livestock agency and the laboratory for the examination and investigation of veterinary disease (BPPV), said the suspicious signs observed on the dead chickens were quite similar to the clinical signs caused by the infection of bird flu.

However, he stressed that a full laboratory test must be conducted to accurately determine the cause of death, but did not indicate how long that would take.