JP/4/EDS28

JP/4/EDS28

Fighting bird flu

It is heartening to know that the government seems to be on
the right track combating bird flu. The representative of the
World Health Organization, Georg Petersen, told this newspaper on
Tuesday that the government was following WHO recommendations and
procedures in investigating the case.

Once suspicions arose that the deaths of a man and his two
children could be from bird flu, investigations began trying to
trace how the three might have contracted the disease. Samples of
their blood, house dust and even from mice found in their house
were immediately sent to the WHO laboratory in Hong Kong for
tests. Media people pressed for information every day, accustomed
to the knowledge that the last few governments have been much
more open in divulging information on public health than those in
the New Order. Indeed, in a short time the government and WHO
announced that the man and his children had died of bird flu.

However Petersen said that all countries needed to improve
efforts to fight a possible outbreak. To the average person,
regardless of whether they eat chicken, the looming threat of any
disease is worrying.

Praise from WHO will not ease the anxiety of the millions of
entrepreneurs in the poultry business who are looking at the
prospects of huge losses as people again stop eating chicken. Any
compensation for their farms affected by the culling of livestock
also seems to be in the distant future, pending the decision of
the House of Representatives on the government's request for
additional funds.

The Ministry of Health has also said it has found the virus in
chicken feces near their home, without being able to reveal many
more details -- especially the most important -- where did the
birds come from, how did the deceased come into contact with the
virus and why did they but no one else become infected in their
area; those who did not fall victim to the disease included the
man's wife and his surviving daughter. Then the health officials
tell us that it will be difficult to stop the virus, given that
the carriers include wild birds and pigeons.

As the H5N1 virus causing avian flu is among those that still
mystify even the world's top experts, it is understandable that
authorities cannot answer all of our questions at once.

We only urge the government to ensure that the authorities do
all they can, responding to requests of assistance and
information and not denying that their area is a "red zone" for
bird flu. Such denials are still heard, including from the regent
of Tangerang where the deceased lived; the same time as reporters
pointed out to him how local poultry workers were not wearing
masks; one of the necessary safety measures to prevent the spread
of the flu.

The painful lessons of denial are all around us; China in 2003
was slow to report incidents of the deadly Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and was blamed for its belated action
to contain the epidemic that hurt business and travel in Asia.
Although the actions of its health workers were later praised for
successfully preventing an otherwise wider spread of SARS, China
was again in the spotlight the following year for what was
suspected to be under-reporting and late reporting of bird flu.

Even if authorities are able to shed their habit of denial,
WHO warns that in several countries affected by bird flu,
"surveillance and reporting systems for both human and animal
diseases are weak." This sounds familiar, with the reports of
polio and malnutrition not far behind us.

The public information campaign also needs a boost, as farmers
in Tangerang were still found to be unaware of bird flu and
bewildered as to why their businesses were hurting even when
their area was in the headlines. Information pamphlets need to be
distributed more widely, telling farmers and the general public
how to protect people, their families and their businesses.

One thing this country doesn't need a repeat of is more
pictures of posing, grinning officials feasting on chicken, to
show that everything is "OK". With so many questions unanswered,
we ask that they don't go to the trouble of insulting our
intelligence.