Nurse under scrutiny for bird flu symptoms
Nurse under scrutiny for bird flu symptoms
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Staff at the Sulianti Saroso Infectious Diseases Hospital in
North Jakarta are closely observing a nurse with avian influenza-
like symptoms after she took care of a patient thought to have
the virus who recently died.
The latest case of suspected bird flu infection comes as
Indonesia prepares for a World Health Organization meeting next
week, in which the country will be quizzed on its efforts to
stamp out the virus, which has killed 62 people worldwide. The
virus, which spreads among chickens and fowls, has already
reached birds in Europe.
Hospital spokesman Ilham Patou said on Friday the nurse,
identified as Rima, was admitted to the special hospital just
before midnight on Thursday after complaining of bird flu-like
symptoms.
"She was suffering from fever and had cough when she arrived,"
Ilham said quoted by Antara.
A laboratory test on her blood sample would be conducted in a
Hong Kong clinic on Saturday, Ilham said.
Rima had treated a 19-year-old patient with bird flu-like
symptoms, Inna Solati, in the intensive care unit at Husada
Insani Hospital in Tangerang. Inna died on Oct. 28.
The infectious diseases hospital has also been treating Inna's
child and two of her nephews. The three toddler-age children, who
Ilham refused to identify, were admitted to the hospital on
Tuesday with bird flu-like symptoms.
Ilham said, however, the three children had shown signs of
improvement.
"They are now in a stable condition. We no longer find them
suffering from high fevers, coughs and respiratory problems,"
Ilham said. Doctors were now waiting for the results of
laboratory tests on their blood samples from the Hong Kong lab,
which normally took around a week to complete, he said.
There are three other suspected bird flu patients under
examination in the hospital. Ilham said their conditions were all
stable.
Ilham it would require a thorough investigation to determine
if Rima and the three children were the first human-to-human
victims of the virus, which is normally only transmitted from
birds to people.
"The dead patient or persons who get sick after a long contact
with sick people must test positive for the virus before we can
declare that human-to-human transmission has taken place," Ilham
said.
The government has said the possibility human-to-human
transmission of the virus at this point remained unlikely. The
virus here is confirmed to have infected five people, three of
whom died.
Minister of Health Siti Fadilah Supari said Indonesia would
report its improvements in disseminating information about the
virus and its surveillance of remote areas during the WHO meeting
in Geneva from Monday through Wednesday.
Siti and Minister of Agriculture Anton Apriyantono will head
the Indonesian delegation to the meeting.