Indonesia launches campaign against bird flu
By Telly Nathalia
The Star, 25 Feb 2006

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Hundreds of Indonesian officials clad in white protective gear and masks fanned out across the country's capital on Friday to check thousands of fowl as authorities kicked off a door-to-door prevention drive against bird flu. 

As part of the drive to stamp out the bird flu virus that has killed 19 people in Indonesia, some 600 inspectors sprayed disinfectant in bird cages and chicken coops in the sprawling huge city where backyard chickens are common. 

"I call people from all walks of life to fight against bird flu," Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said at the launch of the campaign in the heart of Jakarta. 

Officials will slaughter all birds within one kilometre of where infected birds are found during the three-day campaign in Jakarta, where most of the human deaths have occurred. Owners will be paid the equivalent of $1 a bird as compensation. 

So far, the government has resisted the mass culling of fowl seen in some other nations, and agencies have concentrated instead on selective culling, and on public education and hygiene measures aimed at prevention. 

"We need cooperation from the people. In any case, we have to choose our own safety, and the life of the people, rather than fowl, including singing birds," Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso said. 

The government's latest campaign and the possibility of mass culls have raised hackles among some in a country where keeping exotic birds as pets is common. 

"They can't do it (mass cull) because the other birds are healthy," said Sumadi, a bird seller in Jakarta's main bird market. 

Others, however, welcomed the plan in the bustling city which agriculture officials estimates has some 500,000 fowl. 

The drive was welcomed by residents in a crowded slum in central Jakarta where authorities found one infected dove after taking samples out of hundreds of chickens and doves. 

"We have vaccinations once every three months, and routinely clean the cages but if mass culling is necessary then I'll support it," said Yadi Asmawi, 53, who owns 35 backyard chickens. 

The avian flu has killed at least 92 people worldwide out of 170 infected since 2003. The virus has now spread to fowl in Europe and Africa. 

The main fear of experts is that the virus will mutate into a form which can move easily between people, which now it cannot. Almost all of the known human cases have been people in close contact with infected fowl.