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Indonesian woman latest fatality |
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JAKARTA, Thurs. --- A 29-year-old woman died of bird flu, a health official said today, citing results of tests carried out by the Health Ministry. The woman died last night after being treated for three days at Indonesia’s main hospital spokesman Ilham Patu said. Samples from the woman have been sent to a Hong Kong laboratory accredited by the World Health Organization to confirm the finding, he said. |
Ilham had earlier said the east Jakarta woman had been in contact with her neighbour’s dead chickens. Indonesia is also awaiting Hong Kong test results on a 39-year-old man who died last week. Local tests, which are usually reliable, showed that he died of bird flu. If the Hong Kong tests determine that the latest two fatalities were caused by bird flu, then Indonesia’s death toll from the H5N1 bird flu virus will rise to 13. |
Six other human cases in Indonesia have been confirmed as bird flu but the patients survived. The virus has killed more than 70 people across Asia since 2003, and Indonesia was accused of covering up initial outbreaks. Most of its victims have so far hailed from densely populated Jakarta and its surrounds, where many people live in close proximity to poultry. --- AFP.
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