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Indonesia confirms fourth human bird flu death
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-09-16 10:36
Indonesia said on Friday tests had shown bird flu killed a woman who died
last week in a Jakarta hospital after she was admitted suffering from pneumonia
and flu-like respiratory problems.
The woman is Indonesia's fourth human death from the virus.
"It's positive for H5N1," I Nyoman Kandun, director-general of disease
control at the Health Ministry, told Reuters, referring to the virus.
Indonesia's health minister is expected to hold a news conference later on
Friday to discuss the results, which had been confirmed by a laboratory in Hong
Kong.
"Our task now as the government is to make sure the public do not panic. Just
like when we get a bomb threat, we need to avoid panic. Up until now, there is
no proof that there is human-to-human transfer," Kandun said.
The H5N1 strain has killed 64 people in Asia since late 2003.
The woman, 37, died last Saturday. She lived in south Jakarta near a chicken
farm, although health officials have not said how she may have caught the virus.
United Nations health authorities have said more cases could be expected in
Indonesia.
The government has launched a vaccination drive for poultry but carried out
only limited culling because it does not have enough money to compensate farmers
and more than half of all chickens in Indonesia are kept in backyards.
The virus has spread to 22 provinces out of 33 in the sprawling archipelago,
killing more than 9.5 million poultry since late 2003.
In July, Indonesia confirmed its first human casualties of H5N1 -- a father
and his two young daughters in Tangerang on the outskirts of Jakarta. But
authorities could not pinpoint the source that infected the
family.
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