Indonesia flu fight should focus on culling -expert

JAKARTA, June 20 (Reuters) Indonesia, the country with the most human bird flu deaths this year, should focus on culling sick and potentially ill fowl rather than vaccination to root out sources of infection, an animal health expert said.

Vaccination, one of the government's preferred methods to prevent the spread of H5N1 avian flu among chickens and other fowl, was ineffective due to large numbers of poultry and a lack of resources, said Tri Satya Putri Naipospos, vice chairwoman of the National Commission of Avian Flu Control and Preparedness.

''When there is a case in the field which clinically shows symptoms of avian flu, the most effective (tactic) is culling,'' she told reporters yesterday.

''Vaccine may be working in big poultry companies, but not for backyard farms. I am sure that this is why the virus is still there,'' said Naipospos, a former senior agriculture ministry official.

The government only has 60 million dose of bird flu vaccine this year, while there are around 300 million so-called ''backyard'' chickens in Indonesia, she said earlier during a panel presentation to foreign correspondents.

The term refers to a practice -- common throughout the country, including in urban areas -- of keeping a handful of chickens in their yards, sometimes for personal consumption of meat and eggs and sometimes to gain a bit of extra revenue.

Indonesia has seen a steady rise in human bird flu infections and deaths since its first known outbreak of H5N1 in poultry in late 2003.

The bird flu virus, which has infected 50 Indonesians and killed 38 of them, is endemic in poultry in nearly all of the 33 provinces in Indonesia, a country of 17,000 islands sprawling across some 5,000 kilometres.

''Vaccination needs a sufficient amount of vaccine and funds to cover operational cost. And it is also time consuming,'' Naipospos said.

The government is short of both funds and vaccine, she said, adding that out of 900 million dollars needed to run bird flu prevention programmes until 2008, only 53.7 million dollars a year is available.

The cash-strapped government has resisted mass culling, saying it was too expensive and difficult in many areas of the country, where logistics and infrastructure can be problematical at best.

Culling programmes would also meet popular resistance, another expert said during the panel presentation.

Steven Bjorge, medical officer of communicable diseases at the World Health Organisation, said public resistance to culling was because sickness in poultry has long been a feature in people's everyday life.

''Dead and dying poultry are dangerous. But people have rebelled at this notion because all their lives and their ancestors lives (they) have lived with the reality of chickens dying,'' he said.

Bjorge said human bird flu infection in Indonesia was still small compared to fatality rates from other diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis.

''It is a pandemic in birds, but not pandemic in human. In public health terms, 50 cases (of human infections) is relatively small,'' said Bjorge, adding 300 and 90 Indonesian die everyday because of tuberculosis and malaria respectively.

REUTERS SHB BST0503