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| Southeast Asia |
| Indonesia slaughtering poultry in bird flu area; 1 death every 2 1/2 days |
| 2006-06-01 |
| JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Officials began slaughtering poultry Thursday in an Indonesian village where preliminary tests showed a 15-year-old boy had died from bird flu, as the country struggled with a sudden rise in deaths averaging one every 2 1/2 days. All chickens will be killed within one kilometre of the boy's house in the Tasikmalaya district of West Java province, said Budi Utama, head of the local animal and fisheries agency. Indonesian tests on Wednesday found that the boy had contracted the virulent H5N1 bird flu virus, and officials were awaiting confirmation from a World Health Organization-sanctioned laboratory in Hong Kong. At least 36 people have died in Indonesia from bird flu, out of a total world toll of 127, WHO said. The country averaged one human bird flu death every 2 1/2 days in May, putting it on pace to soon become the world's hardest-hit country, surpassing Vietnam's 42 deaths. I've seen a graph of cumulative bird flu deaths in Indo. It's a classic straight line up on a log scale. Could mean it's spreading H2H. Alternatively it's spreading unchecked through one or more vector populations. |
| Posted by:Jaiting Snomons2559 |
| #2 The scientists were all over a recent cluster, in which nine family members died, because two non-genetically related spouses who lived with them did not(!?) However, the disease is entering an "endemic" state in Indonesia, which may be an essential part of its transformation to an H2H strain. Think of it as a geographical vector, from which the disease can launch. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-06-01 16:39 |
| #1 The problem is that darn family cluster. The index case most likely caught the virus from poultry. Nine, cout 'em, nine family members spent the night in her room as she lay dying and about half caught the flu. The cluster distorts the stats. WHO is concerned about the lack of cooperation by local authorities. I also saw an article from the WHO equivalent for animals that said that they suspect that a number of countries are failing to report H5N1 outbreaks because of the economic or political consequences. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2006-06-01 10:16 |