RI may have failed detecting human cases of bird flu: WHO
RI may have failed detecting human cases of bird flu: WHO
Agence France-Presse, Jakarta
Health officials could have failed to detect human cases of bird
flu in Indonesia, where no infections have been reported in
people, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday.
"With such a large country and such a large population, of
course we could miss out on some cases, and we might have missed
out on it because it might have been counted as an ordinary
pneumonia," Georg Petersen said.
But Petersen said he thinks Indonesian authorities "are doing
as much as you can expect" in a vast country of 212 million.
Bird flu has hit 10 Asian countries. So far no Indonesians are
known to be infected but the virus which has infected millions of
chickens is the same strain as in Thailand and Vietnam, where 22
people have died.
Petersen said Indonesian authorities have activated
essentially the same type of surveillance system used during the
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak that swept Asia
last year.
"They call around to the hospitals every day and ask if they
have new cases that could be bird flu cases," he said.
The WHO warned Wednesday that the battle against the virus was
far from over and called on affected countries not to drop their
guard.
Indonesia has been criticized for its slow response to the
outbreak and has given conflicting statements on its policy.
It ordered an intensified culling program only on Jan. 29
following pressure from the World Health Organization, which says
immediate culling of infected and exposed birds is the first line
of defense.
Last week an Indonesian agriculture ministry official said the
government has been involved in only one cull, the burning of
more than 228,000 chickens on Bali island.
The government has said farmers have been destroying flocks on
their own initiative.
Petersen said he is not worried that the attention of health
officials will be diverted from bird flu because of the current
severe outbreak of dengue fever, which has killed 175 people and
infected 8,735 in a total of 12 provinces since January 1.
"People are scared of dengue and rightly much more scared of
dengue than bird flu," he said.
Mariani Reksoprojo, the Ministry of Health spokeswoman, said
the ministry maintains a separate sub-directorate to deal with
bird flu.
"No, it will not be ignored," she said.