Sick Jakartans urged to test blood for bird flu

Sick Jakartans urged to test blood for bird flu

The Jakarta post, Jakarta

Jakartans are now much more aware of the deadly bird flu, with
more of them going directly to one of the two referral hospitals
in the capital to thoroughly check their colds and flus.

However, it is not all that easy to get a blood sample checked
for the disease.

The Ministry of Health's director for animal-related diseases
control, Hariadi Wibisono, explained that people who had clinical
symptoms similar to avian flu and had a history of direct contact
with infected animals should have themselves examined at the
hospitals.

"The hospitals will determine whether their reports match the
criteria and then take blood samples to examine the possibility
of other diseases that have similar symptoms to avian flu."

However, if there were no declared diseases other than bird
flu, the patient's blood serum would be taken to the ministry's
laboratory for serology and virology tests.

The serum would also be taken to the World Health
Organization's referral laboratory in Hong Kong to undergo
international procedures for high-fatality diseases, "not because
we doubt our own tests," said the ministry's virology laboratory
supervisor Bambang Heriyanto.

The government has officially appointed Persahabatan Hospital
in Rawamangun, East Jakarta, and Sulianti Saroso Hospital in
Sunter, North Jakarta, as referral hospitals in response to the
recent deaths of three Tangerang residents from bird flu.

Last Friday, AS, 26, was taken to Sulianti Saroso Hospital
with a high fever, severe coughing and diarrhea.

On Sunday, AB, 31, a photojournalist, signed himself into the
hospital to be treated in the isolation room as he was often
exposed to infected poultry while covering news stories on bird
flu.

But the doctors confirmed on Monday that the two residents of
Tangerang were not infected with the virus.

Sardikin Giriputro, head of the hospital's special team, said
that AS only had a diarrheal disease.

Team member Ida Bagus Sila Wiweka said that AB was diagnosed
as having typhoid and bronchitis.

Sardikin said that both patients, AS and AB, would require
further observation for the next several days while waiting for
the results of blood tests from the health ministry's laboratory.

"Should the lab results show normal conditions and should the
patients continuously have no coughing and high fever, we can
send them home," he added.

Separately, an officer from the health ministry's research and
development agency reported that it had received a letter from
the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital (RSCM) concerning a
patient showing clinical symptoms similar to avian flu.

"We received a letter last Friday reporting that a 50-year old
man from East Jakarta died of symptoms similar to avian flu,"
said the officer, who asked for anonymity.

The man, who died on his fourth day in RSCM, had come in with
an acute pneumonia and had a progressive pulmonary infection on
his second day treatment. Investigations showed that he sold
poultry for a living.

The handling of the case was apparently not well-coordinated
with the ministry's laboratory claiming not to have taken and
tested any samples from the man.

However, it had received a report from the Jakarta office of
the U.S. Naval Medical Unit Research 2 that the man had tested
negative on both serology and virology.

However, the ministry's director general of disease control
and environmental health, I Nyoman Kandun, said that any other
laboratory conducting the tests should be under the ministry's
supervision. (003/004)