JP/5/bird

JP/5/bird

Bird flu may have spread throughout C. Java

Suherdjoko
The Jakarta Post/Semarang

Bird flu, which last week killed hundreds of chickens in Grobogan
regency, Central Java, is suspected to have spread to several
other areas across the province in what is believed to be a new
outbreak.

The provincial health office has, meanwhile, dispatched a team
to examine the Grobogan breeders' health to determine if they
were contaminated by the deadly virus.

Central Java husbandry office head Sugiyono Pranoto said on
Wednesday that his staff had this week sent samples of dead
chickens from poultry breeders in the neighboring regencies of
Brebes and Kendal to the province's veterinary agency for an
examination.

The tests were carried out in order to find their cause of
death, he explained.

"We don't know the results of the tests yet. For sure, the
deaths of chickens in Grobogan were bird flu cases, but the cases
in Kendal and Brebes are still being investigated," Sugiyono
said.

He confirmed that the virus had attacked domestic fowls across
Central Java between August 2003 and July 2004.

Bird flu resurfaced in the province last month, killing more
than 350 chickens in Grobogan a week ago.

Data for the period from August 2003 to July 2004 from the
Ministry of Agriculture showed that Central Java had been hit
hardest by the outbreak over the past year, which killed over
eight million birds in at least 27 regencies.

The worst regencies were Cilacap, where some two million
chickens or other fowl were killed, Klaten with 1.5 million,
Boyolali with 1.13 million and Sragen with 1.01 million.

Lampung was second with around 2.3 million dead, followed by
West Java, Bali, Central, South and West Kalimantan, South and
West Sumatra, Bengkulu, West Nusa Tenggara, Bangka Belitung
Islands, Banten, Yogyakarta and Jakarta.

A total of 16,237,635 birds were killed in at least 104
regencies and cities in 16 provinces during the August 2003-July
2004 period, according to the ministry's report. The number was
9.02 percent of all domesticated fowl in those provinces.

Sugiyono said that he knew of no cure for bird flu-infected
animals or humans.

"What we can do now is make an effort to prevent the spread of
the virus by culling the infected birds and vaccinating the
reminder. In addition, we will try to curb the movement of
infected birds to other areas," he added.

Separately, Central Java health office deputy head,
Budihardja, said that a medical team had been sent to Grobogan to
examine whether local poultry breeders and other people were
infected by the virus.

The team comprises three doctors from the Ministry of Health
in Jakarta and three others from the Central Java health office,
along with five experts from Gadjah Mada University and three
others from the Salatiga veterinary research agency.

Among those examined by the team were around 100 breeders in
Grobogan, Budihardja said. "So far we haven't found any cases of
bird flu infecting people in Indonesia," he stated.

The same virus has reportedly killed a number of people in
Vietnam and Thailand.