Bird flu case identified in Indonesia

JAKARTA, Mar 12: A 20-year-old Indonesian woman who is in hospital in critical condition has been confirmed to be suffering from bird flu, an official at the national bird flu centre said today.

The woman from East Java, who is on a respirator in a hospital in Surabaya, had cleaned an area where her neighbour had dumped a lot of dead chickens, Joko Suyono, a data analyst at the centre in Jakarta, told Reuters.

Indonesia, which has millions of backyard fowl, has had 63 human deaths from bird flu, the highest in the world.

The country has intensified efforts to control the disease by banning backyard fowl in Jakarta and surrounding provinces, and more culling of infected birds.

Bird flu is endemic in fowl in many of the 33 provinces in Indonesia and there was a sudden increase in the number of human deaths from the virus early this year after a brief lull.

Indonesia has avoided mass culling, but has opted for selective culling instead because of the expense involved and logistical difficulties of such an exercise.

Although H5N1 avian flu mostly affects birds, the big concern is that it could mutate into a disease that easily passes between people, triggering a global pandemic.

REUTERS