WHO confirms RI's new bird flu case

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A 21-year-old man hospitalized in Lampung was declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the country's latest confirmed bird flu case, a senior government official said on Monday.

Director general of disease control of the Ministry of Health I Nyoman Kandun said that the man's four-year-old nephew who had died earlier tested positive in preliminary tests by the ministry for the H5N1 bird flu virus, but the government was still awaiting confirmation from the WHO laboratory in Hong Kong.

Kandun said that the man was now being treated at the Abdul Moeloek Hospital in Lampung.

Initial investigations revealed that the man might have contracted the virus from dead chickens in his neighborhood.

Based on the WHO test results, there ware now five confirmed cases of bird flu in Indonesia, of which three -- Iwan Siswara, Rini Dina, and Karwati -- had died.

The WHO fears the H5N1 virus may mutate, acquiring genes from the human influenza virus that would make it highly infectious as well as lethal -- possibly killing millions worldwide as the influenza pandemic of 1918 did.

Meanwhile, the Sulianti Saroso Hospital, which is among the 44 hospitals across the country assigned by the government to treat bird flu patients, on Monday discharged seven patients after a series of tests showed that they were not infected by the virus.

They were previously admitted to the hospital after showing symptoms of bird flu.

"The seven patients, six children and one adult, will leave the hospital today after their test results were negative," said hospital spokesman Ilham Putu as quoted by Antara.

He added that the hospital was now treating eight other patients, whose conditions "are improving and stable" after previously suffering from high fevers and other bird flu-like symptoms.