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.