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.