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WHO confirms
two more human bird flu deaths in Indonesia
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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP): Two young boys died of bird flu in Indonesia _ one from a family on Sumatra island that has already lost four members to the disease, the World Health Organization said Friday. "The tests came back positive,'' said WHO spokeswoman Sari Setiogi, adding that the source of infection, probably sick chickens, had yet to be determined. Bird flu has killed 123 people worldwide _ nearly a quarter of them in Indonesia, which saw its official toll jump to 32 with Friday's announcement. Health Ministry spokesman Sumardi, who goes by only one name, said the most recent victims died late last week. One was a 10-year-old boy from Sumatra _ one of five extended family members to have died of the H5N1 virus this month _ and the other a 12-year-old from the eastern outskirts of Jakarta, he said. |
The multiple deaths of relatives living in the village of Kubu Sembelang _ previously believed to be free of the disease _ raised concerns that the virus had mutated to a form that was easily transmissible between people. Many fear such a scenario could trigger a pandemic capable of killing millions worldwide. But Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari ruled out that possibility Friday, citing local DNA sequencing tests, and WHO said that even if it had occurred "it has not been either efficient or sustained.'' Investigators have found no evidence that infection has spread beyond members of the family, the global health agency said. Still, the source of infection remained unclear. Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said tests on chickens and ducks in the area have so far come back negative |
for bird flu, echoing comments from international health officials. "We're intensifying the investigation,'' he said. Indonesia has come under fire in recent months for doing too little to stop the spread of bird flu, which has been found in poultry in two-thirds of the country's 33 provinces. The government says it cannot afford to carry out mass culls of birds in all infected areas, one of the most basic containment guidelines, and is also struggling to implement basic biosecurity measures. It has tallied 41 human cases of bird flu, 32 of them fatal. People who contract the virus usually are infected by sick birds.
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