8/26-9/1 | Weekly BF: "More victims arriving at hospitals, more areas being infected"

Link to last week's thread: http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=208629


Johns Hopkins on influenza: http://www.iom.edu/Object.File/Master/33/450/Rashid Chotani.pdf

National Avian Influenza Surveillance Information: http://wildlifedisease.nbii.gov/ai/ (origionally found by 'Marsh'):

Published 2006-08-25 16:02 (KST)

Bird Flu Sweeps Across Indonesia
More victims arriving at hospitals, more areas being infected​

Cities in Indonesia are falling like dominos to bird flu: Garut in West Java, then Kendari in Southeast Sulawesi, then Dairi, Serang, and finally Simalungun in North Sumatra.

Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city, is still unaffected, but the cause of the recent deaths of 40 chickens there has yet to be determined. Other areas have not yet reported outbreaks but it may just be a matter of time before they too fall to bird flu.

In Garut, the virus first appeared in the villages of Cikelet and Cigadog, but it has since spread to other villages. The number of suspected bird flu victims continues to rise each day.

Health Ministry officials who hope to check the spread of the virus in the area are monitoring seven villages in Garut. Officials have also gone to each village looking for people who show signs of infection and sending them to the nearest hospital. Hendra, 21, and Gilang, 9, were the latest victims to test positive for the bird flu virus. They received medical treatment at Dr. Slamet Hospital in Garut. Four others are under observation in their homes by Health Ministry teams. If their conditions worsen, the teams will bring them to the hospital.

In response to a rising number of bird flu victims in West Java, the government there has designated 10 hospitals as virus treatment centers. Each of those hospitals will have isolated rooms and a dedicated nursery for handling bird flu patients.

In Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, more than 1,300 chickens in seven sub districts were slaughtered after testing positive for the bird flu virus. It will be difficult to check the spread of the virus in this province because it is a major poultry farming area.

Two young children suffering from high fever, hard coughs, and shortness of breath were reportedly sent to the hospital in Kendari. Blood samples have been sent to Jakarta.

In North Sumatra, as the bird flu flare-up in Tanah Karo subsided, Simalungun was hit this week. More than 15,000 chickens were culled, although the people were reluctant initially to hand over their poultry, fearing that they would not be compensated.

Serang also reported the bird flu virus last week after about 300 chickens suddenly died. Officials there seemed to be moving too slowly to stop the spread of the virus.

One of the greatest impediments to stopping the spread of the virus is lack of awareness. Veterinary officials cannot be everywhere at once. Because the symptoms of the virus are similar to those of common chicken ailments, villagers often attribute the death of their chickens to something besides bird flu. It is only after someone in the community becomes sick or dies that the truth becomes known.

Even then, the symptoms of the virus are similar to common human ailments. Sometimes they do not seek medical treatment assuming that they have only a cold or sore throat.

http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?article_class=4&no=313185&rel_no=1

Saturday August 26, 2006

Vietnam finds bird flu in poultry for second time this month​

HANOI (AP) - Bird flu has been detected in Vietnamese poultry for the second time this month, igniting fears of a possible resurgence of the H5N1 virus in the country that has been touted for beating it back, officials said Saturday.

The virus was found in one duck in the southern Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre, Mai Van Hiep, director of the provincial animal health bureau said, adding it was among eight samples taken from a farm of 45 ducks in Thanh Phu town.

All the ducks, none of which showed any sign of bird flu symptoms, were destroyed Saturday morning after the test result came back two days ago, Hiep said.

The farm and surrounding areas were disinfected, he added.

Earlier this month, the bird flu virus was also detected in two ducks and two geese in random testing in Thanh Phu town in the same province.

Hiep said more than 300 samples of poultry were taken for testing so far this year, and five tested positive for bird flu.

"The infected ducks are still healthy,'' Hiep said.

"It was a big problem for us to control the virus from spreading.''

The government imposed a ban on hatching and raising water fowl, which can carry the virus without showing symptoms.

However, the ban was largely ignored by farmers.

There is an estimated 50 million to 70 million water fowl in the country.

"The results of surveillance recently showed that a highly virulent bird flu virus is circulating in the water fowl, particularly in the water fowl which were not vaccinated,'' the Animal Health Department said on its Web site.

"The risk of bird flu resurgence in coming time therefore is very high, particularly in provinces of high poultry density,'' it said.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung put the nation on high alert after new flare-ups were reported in neighboring countries.

Dung had urged local governments to tighten control along the land borders to prevent poultry from being smuggled into the country.

Vietnam had not reported any bird flu outbreaks in poultry this year and no human cases since November.

The country, which has logged 42 human deaths, had largely controlled the spread of the virus through a strong political commitment and a mass vaccination campaign.

The H5N1 virus has killed at least 141 people worldwide, and experts fear it could mutate into a form that becomes easily passed among people, potentially sparking a pandemic. So far, most human cases have been traced to contact with infected birds.

http://thestar.com.my/services/prin...6/8/26/apworld/20060826123745.asp&sec=apworld

Saturday » August 26 » 2006

Scientists publish letter calling for more sharing of bird flu info​

Maria Cheng
Canadian Press

Friday, August 25, 2006

LONDON - Top flu experts have called for the creation of a new database to share bird flu data, a system they say would promote research on the virus and help countries around the world avert a health catastrophe.

The letter published Thursday in Nature magazine was signed by 70 scientists, a virtual Who's Who of the bird flu world, including six Nobel laureates. It said scientists participating in the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data would agree to publish results collaboratively.

However, some international health officials expressed skepticism.

"We certainly support the spirit of this letter, but we are unclear what this initiative will actually add to the monitoring of avian influenza," said Dick Thompson, a spokesman for the World Health Organization.

The idea of an international database of shared bird flu information may be reassuring, but it is uncertain how much it would change H5N1 monitoring, since the world's top flu experts already have wide access to WHO's bird flu data.

But in recent months, WHO has been under heavy criticism for its "secret database" - in which only a select number of scientists have access to bird flu sequences. As a United Nations agency, WHO does not have the authority to release sequences without the explicit permission of the governments from which flu data originates.

Several bird flu-affected countries have been criticized for jeopardizing the global fight against the H5N1 virus by refusing to share their bird flu data. In a turnaround this month, Indonesia's health minister announced that the country would share its information on bird flu viruses with the international community.

Since the scientific community is largely driven by a race to publish, countries and laboratories have traditionally been reluctant to share information before announcing their research in reputable magazines or journals.

"This initiative is important as it's a further commitment on the part of scientists worldwide to share data, but it doesn't solve all the problems," said Dr. Angus Nicoll, director of Influenza Co-ordination at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

For poorer countries, sharing data does not necessarily translate into tangible benefits. "If the pandemic starts in a developing country and they share the virus, how will they reap the benefits of that?" asked Nicoll. "That hasn't yet been addressed.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=c7c2fe5d-fd02-4b14-9195-5d4b2e2eff8a&k=95565

One would think that the WHO would raise their Pandemic Alert level based on the H2H accelerating in Indonesia.

Outbreak of killer virus 'ignored'​

After bird flu in an Indonesian village goes unchecked for weeks, officials are accused of being unable to cope

John Aglionby in Rancasalak
Sunday August 27, 2006

If statistics are anything to go by, Umar bin Aup should be dead. Seven weeks ago in his village, Rancasalak on the south-western coast of Java, dozens of hens including some of his family's 14 birds started dying for reasons no one could explain. Then, in early August, after hundreds of fowl had succumbed and at least three people in the area had died in mysterious circumstances, Umar, 16, came down with a fever.

'A day later, I was finding it hard to breathe and then I started vomiting,' he told The Observer as he convalesced at home surrounded by his nine siblings. 'I hadn't been sick for three years so it was a surprise to me.'

It was only after Umar's health had deteriorated for four days that his father, Aup, took him to the nearest health centre, six miles away via bumpy unpaved roads and dirt tracks. After assessing the symptoms, Dr Heri Winarto asked if any birds had been dying in the area.

'On hearing the answer "hundreds", I strongly suspected it was bird flu, particularly since we'd had a similar case from a neighbouring village the day before,' he said. Two days later Umar tested positive for bird flu and was in an isolation room in the nearest hospital, 55 miles away in Garut.

In addition to the three who died and were buried before samples could be taken, two other people from the area tested positive for bird flu. Both have died. At least 10 other people have been treated with suspected bird flu.

That it took at least six weeks as well as the deaths of hundreds of hens and probably three people for the authorities to become aware of a massive bird flu outbreak in their midst demonstrates just how poorly the sprawling archipelago is coping with containing the disease, let alone stamping it out.

'To be honest, we were taken by surprise,' said Memo Hermawan, the deputy head of Garut district, which includes Rancasalak. 'We thought that there would never be an outbreak in such a remote area. Now we know better.'

Public awareness of what to do in an outbreak, particularly in remote areas, is almost non-existent. 'When birds started dying we just threw them in the nearest river or on the rubbish dump,' said Dede Andi, as he watched his 13-year-old son Gilang recover in hospital. 'I still don't really know what bird flu is except that it makes people sick.'

Of 64 confirmed human deaths from bird flu around the world this year, 35 have been in Indonesia. Last month, it overtook Vietnam as the country with the most deaths since the global outbreak began in 2003. But while Vietnam has not recorded a human death for more than 18 months, Indonesia's death toll is rising steadily.

It is likely to continue doing so for many months to come. Surveillance systems integrating animal and human health sectors have been established in only a few dozen of the more than 420 districts around the country.

By the end of the year, with international donor funding, this figure is expected to reach 150.

It is not just the tardiness in developing systems that raises doubts about the Indonesian government's commitment to fighting the disease. The proposed budget for next year is being cut by 15 per cent from this year's £29m. International experts estimate between three and five times that amount is needed if Indonesia is going to gain control of the epidemic by its stated goal of 2008.

'Unfortunately we've got various other issues that need our attention,' said Buyu Krisnamurthi, chief executive of the national bird flu commission. 'Just in the last few months there has been a massive earthquake in Yogyakarta, a tsunami in Pangandaran and there are many other illnesses.

'Bird flu is a global problem that needs global commitment and a global response. If the world is really concerned about bird flu in Indonesia it needs to contribute more.'

Amid the gloom, those involved in combating the disease are clutching at straws of hope. One is that despite 29 of Indonesia's 33 provinces having bird flu outbreaks at epidemic levels in poultry populations and human deaths showing no signs of slowing, the disease has yet to mutate into a form that could cause human-to-human transmission and thus a global pandemic.

But one Jakarta-based international expert warned that considering the level of ignorance in places such as Garut is still so high even after a significant outbreak then the worst-case scenario of a major human pandemic cannot be ruled out.

'We've been lucky here so far and considering everything that's going on - or rather not going on - we're going to have to continue to be lucky for months to come,' he said.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1859247,00.html

Bill P said:

One would think that the WHO would raise their Pandemic Alert level based on the H2H accelerating in Indonesia.

Click to expand...

WHO is a political entity with very little real authority. They operate
at the pleasure of the host country.

They have already re-defined their pandemic levels twice this past year.

Don't look for WHO to give you any early warning. Not going to happen.

Too much $$$ at stake.

Under their old rules we're already at level 4.

There is also an unknown mammal vector at work in Indonesia that
nobody is attempting to identify.

We live in interesting times.

Something i noticed today on the idiot box.. there was an Indiana state sponsored commercial on influenza.. and was giving some tips on keeping flu from spreading to a pandemic.. talking about if you have to cough or sneeze do it in your sleeves, and if you didnt feel well to stay home from work etc.. and to wash your hands alot to keep clean..

it just kinda threw me for a loop seeing this.. kinda reminded me of the duct tape and plastic crap they were telling us a few years ago...

something seemed surreal about it.. I am wondering if this isnt a BIG DOT as to tptb knowing something is brewing..

something everyone else might wanna watch as well see if they notice any out of the ordinary things like this commercial on tv

not trying to scare anyone or anything, but definitely a HEADS UP

kemo

I see a perfect storm brewing. The virus is now transmitting H2H better than ever before. I see a nation of fast food eaters who are malnurished and don't even know it. Add the two together and you get a disaster, especially as we are heading towards flu season right now.

Sunday 27th of August 2006 04:06:26 PM

Indonesia - the epicentre of bird flu fears​

by Gunika Khurana - August 27, 2006

Jakarta -- The deadly bird flu is fast spreading, enveloping the whole globe under its wings. The H5N1 strain emerged in South East Asia in 2003 and has been spreading ever since. Many birds have been killed or destroyed as a result of the outbreak.

Human population effected by bird flu has also been increasing. The first death was reported in January 2006 and aroused the concern of the World Health Organization, who claimed that it spreads through the consumption of infected poultry. However, they ruled out the possibility of transfer of the flu from person to person.

The news that Indonesia is the worst affected with bird flu will come as a little surprise to anybody. Since February, a number of deaths have been reported and the infection is on the rise.

Other parts of Asia, including India, who is now an avian influenza free nation, China, Hong Kong, etc, have taken the necessary measures to tackle the disease, but death toll in Indonesia continue to rise.

Out of the country’s 33 provinces, 27 have been found with infected poultry flock. With the death of a 16 year old boy on Monday and a 17 year old girl on Tuesday, the fatalities have reached 44.

Indonesia has been criticized internationally for not taking enough concerted action in the fight against bird flu.

In order to regain its status as a bird flu free nation, the health officials have decided to conduct poultry depopulation in the Garut district of West Java by culling some 2,000 fowls in order to prevent the spread of bird flu.

The plan for mass culling was made after several chickens were tested and found infected with the virus. The heath officials said that they will soon kill poultry of various other districts as well.

Local Animal Husbandry Service Head Andi Rachmat said that the mass killings will be done on Sunday and Monday. He said that previously 3,528 birds were killed. With the cooperation of West Java`s Animal Husbandry office and the central government, 2000 more fowls will be killed.

Revealing other plans, Andi said that 70,000 fowls will be given vaccinations and the programme will cover approximately 300,000 fowls in Garut in the coming months.

Globally, there have been 130 deaths since the outbreak of the pernicious disease. It is essential to eradicate it completely before the death toll rises any more.

http://www.themoneytimes.com/articles/20060827/indonesia_the_centre_of_bird_flu_fear-id-101319.html

"So what if our country is the hotbed that may breed the killer virus that exterminates mankind. If you were really worried about it you'd give us more money."

Yep, milk bird flu as a cash cow; ignore it otherwise. Recipe for disaster. The WHO is worthless.

I feel lucky we've had this long before it suddenly explodes. It's taken longer than I thought and I'm grateful for every normal day.

NHS 'meltdown' predicted by Government bird flu report​

By Beezy Marsh
(Filed: 27/08/2006)

The health service will be plunged into chaos if Britain is struck by a bird flu pandemic, a Government report warns.

Faced with a possible 4.5 million victims, demand for hospital beds would outstrip supply and doctors might have to deny treatment to the sick and elderly to save younger, fitter patients.

The draft document for Primary Care Trusts, which will have responsibility for co-ordinating a response to any flu pandemic, also predicts demand for the NHS Direct hotline would soar from 170,000 calls a week to almost four million, swamping the system.

The study, released without publicity on the internet, details how ministers plan to cope by setting up a "national flu hotline" and ordering those with symptoms to stay at home. Flu assessments would be carried out by call centre workers, who would decide whether a patient needed treatment with one of the 14.6 million doses of the antiviral drug Tamiflu which the Government will have stockpiled by next month.

For children under seven and "at risk" groups, such as those with existing lung conditions, a general practitioner or a nurse might assess the patient before giving Tamiflu.

Patients would be expected to nominate a relative or friend who will be given a password and security number in order to pick up supplies. Those who have no one to nominate will have Tamiflu delivered.

In the "peak week", the report says, 4.5 million cases will emerge. Of those, four per cent would need hospital care, requiring 166,000 beds. About 54,000 victims would need intensive care.

However, the entire National Health Service has only 159,600 beds available each week, including just 3,900 ITU beds. The death rate from any pandemic is estimated at 2.5 per cent - 525,000 people. The Home Office has already warned that families might have to wait up to four months to bury their dead and that mass graves could be used.

Dr Martin Shalley, the president of the British Association of Accident and Emergency Medicine, said: "The first time we saw these figures our mouths fell open. It is every doctor's worst nightmare. There are plans in place, but there is the potential for meltdown.

"It is obvious that no hospital is going to have the capacity to cope with anything like this and a huge percentage of health care workers are going to get sick. Hospitals will be inundated with huge numbers of patients and doctors will have to make some difficult judgements."

A Department of Health spokesman said: "It is likely that NHS services will be under significant pressure during a pandemic and that is why we are also asking the NHS to develop local plans."

Scientists believe it is only a matter of time before the H5N1 strain of avian flu mutates into a form that can spread from person to person, creating a pandemic. Experts working for the Department of Health based their estimates on the outbreak of Spanish flu in 1918. They predict a 35 per cent "attack rate", meaning 21 million people will contract the virus at some point during the pandemic, which may last four months.

By last week, 141 people had been killed by the virus since 2003. Its presence has been confirmed in more than 48 countries and territories, including Britain, where a dead swan was found floating in the harbour of the coastal village of Cellardyke, in Fife, on April 6. The bird later tested positive for the H5N1 strain of avian flu.

The first bird flu outbreaks in the European Union came in January, when cases were confirmed in wild swans in Italy, Greece, Germany and Austria. Within weeks, cases were recorded in Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary, and France, where mass vaccination of ducks and geese on farms was carried out. At the end of February, the first European case involving a cat was discovered on a German island where a number of wild birds died from the disease earlier in the month.

In March, human deaths were confirmed in Azerbaijan, where what is believed to be the first canine case was also diagnosed in a stray dog. So far, there have been no cases involving humans in Europe. The closest country affected is Turkey, where there have been four fatalities.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/08/27/nflu27.xml

Bird-flu found in duck farm in Vietnam​

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/s1726331.htm?Vietnam

Last Updated 28/08/2006, 20:02:35

Animal health officials in Vietnam, have found the bird flu virus on a small duck farm in the southern province of Ben Tre.

It comes as neighbouring countries Laos, China and Thailand all report new outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 virus in recent weeks.

All 84 ducks on the farm were immediately culled on Saturday.

Ducks in 14 nearby farms were also tested for the virus, but the results were negative.

Officials say no humans have been infected following this latest outbreak but the source of the virus is not known.

Pregnant Indonesian Woman Takes Tamiflu​

The Associated Press
Aug 28, 2006 2:14 PM (6 hrs ago)
Current rank: # 121 of 6,509 articles

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesian doctors were monitoring a pregnant woman who started taking the antiviral drug Tamiflu after developing symptoms of bird flu, but said Monday they were confident it would not affect her 2-month-old fetus.

The case, however, will be closely watched by scientists who have inadequate data on the use of the medication in pregnant women.

The World Health Organization and the Swiss-based manufacturer of Tamiflu say for the time being, decisions to prescribe the drug should be made only when the potential benefit to the mother justifies the possible risk to the unborn child.

Dr. Luhur Soeroso, who is treating the 35-year-old woman from Sumatra province, said she has been taking the drug for over one week and "so far has not had any problems with her pregnancy."

He said he believed strong antibiotics also being administered to the patient, who continues to suffer from high fever and respiratory problems, were more dangerous to the fetus' development than Tamiflu.

The H5N1 bird flu virus has killed 141 people across the globe since ravaging Asian poultry stocks three years ago, including 46 in Indonesia, according to WHO.

http://www.examiner.com/a-247749~Pregnant_Indonesian_Woman_Takes_Tamiflu.html

Time to order more P100 cartridges...

Thanks PCViking for keeping us up to date. I haven't had much to add lately between wars, the economy and the cranking up of hurricane season, but I wanted you to know that I'm still lurking and reading these great threads....

And freaking out sometimes.

JohnGaltfla said:

Time to order more P100 cartridges...

Thanks PCViking for keeping us up to date. I haven't had much to add lately between wars, the economy and the cranking up of hurricane season, but I wanted you to know that I'm still lurking and reading these great threads....

And freaking out sometimes.

Click to expand...

Thanks JG, and kudos to all the other TBers who ferrett out the BF news and post in the BF thread. It seems that TPTB are making an real effort to keep the BF news burried... things are happening, but it's a challenge to find hard news. Personally I would like to see it all die out and be a big fizzle... but, my gut says a lot of people are going to be in for a surprize this flu season... Keep yourself financially solvent, get some N-95 masks and some ammo might not be a bad idea... reading the lines and between 'em TPTB compare Katrina as a dress rehersal.

kemosabe said:

Something i noticed today on the idiot box.. there was an Indiana state sponsored commercial on influenza.. and was giving some tips on keeping flu from spreading to a pandemic.. talking about if you have to cough or sneeze do it in your sleeves, and if you didnt feel well to stay home from work etc.. and to wash your hands alot to keep clean..

it just kinda threw me for a loop seeing this.. kinda reminded me of the duct tape and plastic crap they were telling us a few years ago...

something seemed surreal about it.. I am wondering if this isnt a BIG DOT as to tptb knowing something is brewing..

something everyone else might wanna watch as well see if they notice any out of the ordinary things like this commercial on tv

not trying to scare anyone or anything, but definitely a HEADS UP

kemo

Click to expand...

I work in the area that is "working" on giving us BF info for my corp (I just sit there folks, but read the crap that comes off the printer). ALL they've come up with is "wash your hands." It's amazingly ridiculous. If they bought everyone a 16 oz bottle of alcohol to wipe down surfaces and put on their hands they would make a huge dent in the "season." I did this last year and as long as I was careful to put it on my hands when I got back to my desk I was "bug free." I used it to clean my desk and electronics. Once again they're ignoring something that we could have prevented or curtailed at least. I'm not saying that my alcohol fix is great, but it's better than washing your hands only. After you wash your hands you touch a billion things on your way back. Especially that door that 50 sick people used before you. I use this rather than the Purell cleaner only because it's less expensive and a bit more versitile. Dries faster on your hands also. Of course it doesn't come in a pump bottle, but I'm sure that you could come up with something if you just can't live without it. Oh well. Can we point to these people when others begin to die or will we care?

Suspected human bird flu case admitted to Indonesian hospita​

http://www.antara.co.id/en/seenws/?id=19038

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - A sixty-year-old man from Indonesia's West Java has been admitted to hospital on suspicion of having bird flu, a hospital official said Tuesday.

The man, identified as Pidi, was sent to the general hospital in Garut,
West Java from the hamlet of Cipicung in the isolated subdistrict of Cikelet where three people have already been infected by bird flu, Yogi Suprayogi, the spokesman of the hospital, was quoted by AFP as saying.

The man who was admitted with high fever and respiratory problems -- both
symptoms of bird flu -- owned 10 chicken which died suddenly two days before he went to the hospital, Suprayogi said.

Three other people from Cikelet are also suspected of having been killed by the disease.

The district animal husbandry office has killed a total of 4,602 birds,
including chicken, ducks, geese and doves in the six villages in Cikelet in the past days, said Dida, an official from the office in Garut.

More birds would also be killed in two other nearby villages, he added.

Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, has 60 confirmed cases of infection so far, 46 of them fatal, the highest number in the world.

While the H5N1 virus that causes bird flu does not spread easily among
people, the chance of a mutation occurring which will allow it to do so is heightened as more humans catch it from infected birds.

Scientists fear that if this occurs, a global flu pandemic with a massive
death toll could result. (*)

Indonesia

Five sick as mayor orders bird cull​

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20060829.G09&irec=8

PALU, Central Sulawesi: The mayor of Palu is appealing to bird owners to cull all poultry in the city to prevent a likely epidemic after five suspected human cases of the virus in the area.

However, Rusdy Mastura said the city did not have enough money to compensate farmers for their birds.

Urging all residents in Palu who own poultry to report to the Bird Flu Epidemic Eradication office, Rusdy called for a mass cull of all birds.

"We have asked poultry farmers to destroy their birds voluntarily. We have also informed them that we don't have the funds to compensate them for all the birds destroyed," said Rusdy.

Rusdy made the appeal Monday after dozens of chickens died rapidly over three consecutive days in Datu Pamusu, West Palu.

Five people suspected of contracting the virus are being treated at Palu's Undata Hospital.

"They have not been positively tested as having bird flu, since their blood samples are still being tested," he said.

Palu Bird Flu Epidemic Eradication Office coordinator Abdul Manaf said Monday the department did not have enough disinfectant to spray the city.

The office had also found it difficult to gather data on the number of citizens who owned poultry and their locations, he said. -

CDC announces test distinguishing bird flu​

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/15388075.htm

ATLANTA (AP) — Scientists have developed a biological microchip test designed to help laboratories better identify if a person has bird flu.

The Flu Chip test was developed by the University of Colorado and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is detailed in the current issue of a scientific publication, the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

Earlier this year, federal officials announced a lab test that within four hours can evaluate whether a person has the type of bird flu circulating in Asia.

But the test doesn’t say much beyond positive or negative. The new test, which takes about 12 hours, can identify the specific subtype of the disease and name the virus’s geographic origin.

‘‘This test provides a lot more information,’’ said Kathy Rowlen, a University of Colorado scientist who led the research.

It should help national and international diseases investigators, ‘‘who want to track all subtypes of influenza that are infecting people,’’ she added.

In the Flu Chip test, a robotic arm drops spots of various flu viruses’ genetic material onto a microscope slide. The 55 spots are each one-hundredth of an inch in diameter. The slide is immersed in a liquid containing flu gene fragments from an infected person.

Scientists watch to see if genetic material from the infected person binds to any of the material on the slide, indicating a match.

The Flu Chip allowed users to obtain correct information about both type and subtype — which is considered a full characterization of a strain — from 72 percent of the samples, according to an evaluation of the test.

The test can help identify emerging viruses, and can be designed to distinguish between the genetic groups — or ‘‘clades’’ — of bird flu, said Dr. Nancy Cox, director of the CDC’s Influenza Division.

Azerbaijan H5N1 Sequences Fly Into Indonesia​

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/08280601/H5N1_Azerbaijan_Indo_Fly.html

Recombinomics Commentary
August 28, 2006

H5N1 bird flu sequences, A/Azerbaijan/006-207/2006(H5N1), from a prior patient in Azerbaijan were released at Los Alamos. Seven of the eight gene segments were deposited on the public side of the database. These sequences had a limited number of “new” polymorphisms which were shared with a subset of Qinghai sequences. Azaerbaijan and the sequences from a swan in Italy were shared in six of the seven genes. Polymorphisms were also frequently shares with the 2006 Tuva isolate, including polymorphisms in PA, which were not shared with the Italian sequence.

However, several of the Azerbaijan polymorphisms were also found in sequences from Indonesia, including PA and NA sequences in H5N1 from Karo cluster (see below). These newly released sequences provide additional evidence for the presence of Qinghai sequences in Indonesia.

The mounting evidence of Qinghai sequences on an Indonesian background indicates that the Indonesian H5N1 genes are acquiring these polymorphisms via recombination. These acquisitions are increasing the genetic diversity in H5N1 in Indonesia. Similar changes are also happening in Fujian and Clade 1 sequences, which are creating additional problems for the generation of a pandemic vaccine because of limited cross-reactivity. Recently, the WHO announced the availability of vaccine targets representing 3 sub-clades of Clade 2. All three sub-clades have been identified in fatal human cases.

Most of the human H5N1’s isolated in Indonesia do not match avian sequences from domestic poultry. The presence of Qinghai polymorphisms in Indonesian isolates suggest wild birds are bring in new sequences. The sequences may also be present in a mammalian reservoir, because many of the novel polymorphisms are also not found in wild bird sequences.

The increasing detection of Qinghai sand other novel sequences in the Indonesian sequence database indicates a more aggressive program should be launched to increase the H5N1 survellance in additional hosts including humans without poultry exposure, other mammals, and wild bird birds.


Qinghai isolates are in black bold, while mammalian Indonesian isolates are in red bold.

'Confusion' surrounds plans for flu pandemic​

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-08-28-flu-planning_x.htm

By Anita Manning, USA TODAY
States' planning for pandemic flu has been hampered by a lack of clear direction from federal health officials and a dearth of scientific information on strategies that could slow the spread of infection, researchers say.

Scientists at the non-profit Research Triangle Institute International reviewed 49 pandemic plans posted on state health department websites (only Louisiana's plan was not posted) and found wide disparities.

Their report in the September issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases, a journal of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is published online at www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID.

Highlights of the report:

• All states give vaccination priority to health and emergency workers; people with high-risk medical conditions, such as asthma and heart disease; and the elderly. But they are "markedly" different in their plans for limiting personal contact and prevention guidance.

• There is "confusion and lack of specificity" in the plans when it comes to practical measures to identify and contain an outbreak. For instance, there is no definition of what would trigger a declaration of a pandemic, and measures such as vaccination or use of anti-flu medications are "infrequently addressed," mainly because the supplies of vaccine and drugs are expected to be limited.

• Key questions are unanswered, such as whether earlier detection would prompt changes in behavior that could slow the spread of the disease and whether the use of face masks would help. Further, "we know of no studies designed to address these and several other issues."

• Only a handful of states plan such surveillance efforts as monitoring hospital emergency rooms for flu-like illnesses or screening international travelers.

"We believe some of the problem results from weak central (federal) direction, as has been a criticism of national bioterrorism preparedness," the authors write. "Fortunately, state and federal plans are still in flux, many are still in draft form, and getting a clearer delineation of a basic plan that all states can follow is still possible."

In November, President Bush announced a National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza and in May issued a plan for implementing the strategy. The authors say that a revision of the plan "would be helpful" and that studies should be done to provide more specific information to state planners.

Preparing the country for a flu pandemic will take time, says John Agwunobi, assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services. "Under no circumstances are we there yet. Making sure that every state has its first draft plan is one of the very first steps."

The new report helps clarify strengths and weaknesses in the plans, but it does not reflect "the notion that we are building in layers," Agwunobi says. State plans are a first step, and this fall, regional planning will begin.

Other questions, such as "what's the most strategic way to close schools, how to protect nursing homes in the absence of a vaccine, the best ways to apply social distancing at the community level" will be explored starting in mid-October, Agwunobi says. That's when the Institute of Medicine will convene a series of expert panels to develop guidelines for communities.

That outcome will "serve as the scientific basis for the next generation of our pandemic plan," he says

China police break up fake Tamiflu ring​

Aug 30, 2006

Police in China's commercial hub of Shanghai have broken up a ring that was selling a fake version of Tamiflu - considered a key medical defence against bird flu in humans, an official state newspaper said on Wednesday.

The group made more than 1.6 million yuan ($NZ311,000) selling the drugs online and via other channels in China and in southeast Asia, the China Daily said.

Police arrested 13 people and seized 400 kilograms of the fake drugs and 46 tonnes of raw materials, it said.

"The ingredients of the pill were not released because of fears it would be copied, but it is said to be extremely volatile as the method of production can easily cause explosions," the report said.

Tamiflu is made by Roche Holding AG, but Shanghai Pharmaceutical (Group), parent of Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd, has been licensed to make the drug in China.

China has reported 14 human deaths from the H5N1 form of bird flu since 2003, out of 21 total confirmed cases. Dozens of poultry outbreaks have been reported.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu can strike domestic and wild birds and infect humans who have close contact with them.

Some scientists fear that the strain could mutate and cause a pandemic in which millions of people could die.

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411319/823716

Indonesia reports suspected bird flu cases​

Last Updated 30/08/2006, 16:51:32

Two more people from Indonesia's West Java have been admitted to hospital on suspicion of contracting bird flu.

Health officials say the pair are from Cikelet district, where three people have already been infected by the disease.

The district animal husbandry office has culled more than 4,000 birds, including chicken, ducks, geese and doves in recent days.

Indonesia has 60 confirmed cases of infection so far, 46 of them fatal, the highest number in the world.

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/s1728298.htm?Indonesia

Avian flu reported among migrating birds in West Siberia​

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060830/53322081.html

14:25 | 30/ 08/ 2006

NOVOSIBIRSK, August 30 (RIA Novosti) - Bird flu has been registered among migrating birds in West Siberia, a local veterinary watchdog reported Wednesday.

An epidemic of the deadly virus broke out in five Siberian and 11 southern regions this year, resulting in the deaths and culling of about 1.5 million birds. And a regional branch of the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Oversight said the most dangerous strain of the disease had been identified in a region more than 1,500 miles east of Moscow.

"Lab tests showed H5N1 strain in wild fowl on 14 lakes in the Omsk Region," a representative said.

But the representative said all outbreaks of the virus among domestic fowl had been eradicated and quarantine restrictions lifted across Siberia.

The disease, which scientists fear could mutate into a form that passes between humans and spark a global pandemic, has spread worldwide since it was first spotted in Asia in 2003 and has claimed dozens of human lives. No human fatalities have been reported in Russia.

H5 bird flu virus found in ducks in Hanoi​

http://www.todayonline.com/articles/139414.asp

Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 30-Aug-2006 17:17 hrs

Vietnam has said the H5 strain of bird flu virus had been detected in a flock of ducks in a Hanoi suburb, raising fears of a resurgence of the deadly H5N1 virus in the communist country.
.
On Monday, "two ducks sold in Tan Trieu market, Thanh Tri district, tested positive" to the H5 strain, said Nguyen Van Cam, director of the National Center for Animal Health Diagnosis in Hanoi.
.
Five ducks were tested, all of them in good health. The N component of the virus has yet to be identified but the H5N1 virus that has killed 42 people in Vietnam since late 2003 is now considered endemic in the country.
.
The official said prevention measures would be stepped up in the capital to avoid the virus spreading and curtail further human infections.
.
"We will take every month a hundred samples of poultry sold in Hanoi markets to carry out tests. We have already reinforced controls," Cam told AFP.
.
The trade of live poultry in Hanoi inner district is theorically forbidden but the ban is poorly enforced.
.
"This discovery shows that the virus is still circulating among poultry, especially waterfowl," said Hoang Van Nam, deputy head of the agriculture ministry's Animal Health Department, calling for higher vigilance.
.
The geographic origins of the ducks could not be established, he said, adding a disinfection campaign would be carried out around Hanoi in September.
.
Vietnam said Saturday the H5N1 strain of bird flu had been detected in a flock of ducks in the southern Mekong Delta. Ducks and other waterfowl can carry and spread the virus without showing symptoms themselves.
.
The Southeast Asian country is the worst hit by the disease after Indonesia, but it has reported no new human cases this year.
.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung last week urged local authorities to increase their vigilance and be on the lookout for illegal poultry imports from virus-hit neighbouring countries. — AFP

Vietnam has said the H5 strain of bird flu virus had been detected in a flock of ducks in a Hanoi suburb, raising fears of a resurgence of the deadly H5N1 virus in the communist country.
.
On Monday, "two ducks sold in Tan Trieu market, Thanh Tri district, tested positive" to the H5 strain, said Nguyen Van Cam, director of the National Center for Animal Health Diagnosis in Hanoi.
.
Five ducks were tested, all of them in good health. The N component of the virus has yet to be identified but the H5N1 virus that has killed 42 people in Vietnam since late 2003 is now considered endemic in the country.
.
The official said prevention measures would be stepped up in the capital to avoid the virus spreading and curtail further human infections.
.
"We will take every month a hundred samples of poultry sold in Hanoi markets to carry out tests. We have already reinforced controls," Cam told AFP.
.
The trade of live poultry in Hanoi inner district is theorically forbidden but the ban is poorly enforced.
.
"This discovery shows that the virus is still circulating among poultry, especially waterfowl," said Hoang Van Nam, deputy head of the agriculture ministry's Animal Health Department, calling for higher vigilance.
.
The geographic origins of the ducks could not be established, he said, adding a disinfection campaign would be carried out around Hanoi in September.
.
Vietnam said Saturday the H5N1 strain of bird flu had been detected in a flock of ducks in the southern Mekong Delta. Ducks and other waterfowl can carry and spread the virus without showing symptoms themselves.
.
The Southeast Asian country is the worst hit by the disease after Indonesia, but it has reported no new human cases this year.
.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung last week urged local authorities to increase their vigilance and be on the lookout for illegal poultry imports from virus-hit neighbouring countries. — AFP

Vietnam has said the H5 strain of bird flu virus had been detected in a flock of ducks in a Hanoi suburb, raising fears of a resurgence of the deadly H5N1 virus in the communist country.
.
On Monday, "two ducks sold in Tan Trieu market, Thanh Tri district, tested positive" to the H5 strain, said Nguyen Van Cam, director of the National Center for Animal Health Diagnosis in Hanoi.
.
Five ducks were tested, all of them in good health. The N component of the virus has yet to be identified but the H5N1 virus that has killed 42 people in Vietnam since late 2003 is now considered endemic in the country.
.
The official said prevention measures would be stepped up in the capital to avoid the virus spreading and curtail further human infections.
.
"We will take every month a hundred samples of poultry sold in Hanoi markets to carry out tests. We have already reinforced controls," Cam told AFP.
.
The trade of live poultry in Hanoi inner district is theorically forbidden but the ban is poorly enforced.
.
"This discovery shows that the virus is still circulating among poultry, especially waterfowl," said Hoang Van Nam, deputy head of the agriculture ministry's Animal Health Department, calling for higher vigilance.
.
The geographic origins of the ducks could not be established, he said, adding a disinfection campaign would be carried out around Hanoi in September.
.
Vietnam said Saturday the H5N1 strain of bird flu had been detected in a flock of ducks in the southern Mekong Delta. Ducks and other waterfowl can carry and spread the virus without showing symptoms themselves.
.
The Southeast Asian country is the worst hit by the disease after Indonesia, but it has reported no new human cases this year.
.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung last week urged local authorities to increase their vigilance and be on the lookout for illegal poultry imports from virus-hit neighbouring countries. — AFP

Plan now for avian flu pandemic​

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazet....html?id=0c4ae351-05cd-4d79-a0c2-5e0af9b573df

Published: Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Responsible governments around the world are getting ready for the pandemic that experts are convinced will happen once the deadly form of bird flu, H5N1, mutates easily from person to person.

The question is no longer whether to prepare, but how. And it's a huge question. The number of people expected to become ill is staggering. Add to them those who will book off work to care for stricken relatives, and as much as 35 per cent of the population will be incapacitated for parts of a two-month epidemic.

In Quebec, the Health Department is planning to cope with the 2.6 million people it projects will be infected, more than half of whom will need to be seen by a medical professional. As many as 34,000 Quebecers will need to be hospitalized. An estimated 8,500 could die.

With no good idea of when the pandemic might start, Quebec wants businesses to begin their own planning. Firms must know how to cope if daycares and schools close and parents can't work.

Pharmaceutical firms, especially, need a contingency plan. While a vaccine is not possible for a pandemic's first wave - it takes three to six months to develop a vaccine - there should be one for the second wave.

Provincial health departments are anxious to avoid a repeat of the SARS epidemic in 2003, when Toronto's health-care system was overwhelmed by a panicked population.

The highly contagious SARS resulted in the deaths of about 100 people. (In comparison, every year in Quebec, for example, between 1,500 and 2,000 people die of ordinary non-avian flu.)

The Toronto experience is used as an example of how not to manage a public-health crisis. It was a relatively minor crisis magnified a thousand times by a virtually complete communications failure.

All provinces are determined that relevant information will be easily available in the expected pandemic, said Debra Dollard, director of communications with Quebec's Health Department.

The department's web site, www.pandemicquebec.ca for now has little in the way of advice, other than a pamphlet on correct handwashing.

Quebec's plans are focused on containing public anxiety and managing the outbreak, not on the virtually impossible task of staving off widespread infection. This seems sensible, given that an ill-informed public could easily overwhelm the health care network.

Individuals, businesses and government agencies need to co-ordinate their efforts before the pandemic strikes.

The prudent course is to do as the health authorities propose: Plan now.

Five in Indonesia's Sulawesi tested for bird flu​

http://today.reuters.com/news/artic..._JAK115024_RTRUKOC_0_US-BIRDFLU-INDONESIA.xml

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Five people have been admitted to hospital on Indonesia's Sulawesi island with bird flu-like symptoms and local authorities have sought funds from the government to help cull poultry, officials said on Wednesday.

Samples from the patients in Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi province, have been sent to a government laboratory in Jakarta to be tested for bird flu, said Runizar Ruesin, head of the ministry's bird flu information center.

No further details about the five people were available.

Indonesia has so far recorded 60 bird flu cases, 46 of them fatal. The country's death toll is the highest in the world.

Zulkarnain Hassan, a coordinator at the agriculture ministry's Avian Influenza Crisis Center, said that there had been bird flu cases in poultry in West and South Palu district and the provincial capital of Palu city.

An official of the agriculture ministry in Palu said the local government did not have enough money to compensate farmers for culling their birds and had asked Jakarta for more funds.

"(Culling) is something that must be done," he said, adding that some slaughtering had started in the region on Wednesday.

He did not say how many chickens needed to be killed or how much the work would cost.

Bayu Krisnamurthi, head of the national bird flu control commission, said the central government would reimburse funds spent by local governments or compensate farmers.

Separately, the government will on Friday embark on a new campaign to raise awareness about bird flu through television and radio advertisements, leaflets, posters and billboards, said Tri Satya Naipospos, deputy chief of the National Committee for Avian Influenza Control and Pandemic Preparedness.

"So far our campaign has been spotty. We realize that human cases have occurred in regions where people are ignorant about bird flu and they don't have the means to support our efforts," she said, declining to give the cost of the campaign.

Experts said public ignorance, along with official ineptitude and lack of money, are hampering efforts to stamp out the disease in the country of 220 million.

Farmers often oppose the destruction of their fowl because of low compensation.

A full-grown chicken sells for 35,000 rupiah ($3.85) in Jakarta, but the government only offers between 10,000-12,500 for each fowl killed.

Although bird flu remains essentially an animal disease, experts fear it could mutate into a form that can pass easily among humans, killing millions.

New fears that the virus had mutated into a form that can easily pass between humans arose this month after a series of confirmed or suspected cases in West Java's remote Cikelet village, where bird flu is rife in poultry.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said there has been no evidence that human-to-human transmission had occurred in the area.

August 30, 2006

Why blood of bird flu survivors is a lifesaver​

By Mark Henderson, Science Editor


BLOOD products taken from people who have recovered from bird flu could be useful for treating other patients in the event of a pandemic, research has suggested.

An analysis of how such transfusions were used in hospitals during the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 has indicated that they reduced the risk of death and eased symptoms, raising the prospect that a similar approach could be used against H5N1 influenza.

Although vaccines and antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu are likely to be the front line of defence today, blood plasma transfusions could provide a valuable back-up. They could prove a particularly valuable weapon against the H5N1 virus in developing countries with poor access to vaccines and antivirals, scientists said yesterday.

The study, which is published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, adds weight to calls from a leading British scientist, first reported in The Times, for the Government to examine a similar blood product’s possible role in an H5N1 flu pandemic.

Sir Peter Lachmann, Emeritus Professor of Immunology at the University of Cambridge and a past president of the Academy of Medical Sciences, argues that antibodies could be taken from recovering flu patients and used to treat others who develop the disease.

The proposal differs from the blood plasma idea as it involves separating antibodies known as immunoglobulins, which are already used widely against diseases such as hepatitis A, chicken pox and measles.

Blood is removed from a patient who has recovered and the liquid plasma part is mixed with alcohol and separated into its components by fractionation. One of the resulting fractions is rich in immunoglobulins that the immune system has made to fight the pathogen in question, and these can then be given to other patients exposed to the disease.

The approach has not yet been used against flu in humans, largely because existing vaccines and antivirals are more effective and less risky. Research in mice, however, suggests that immunoglobulins would be an effective way of alleviating symptoms. In the new research, a team examined eight contemporary pieces of medical research into the Spanish flu, which killed as many as 40 million people. They found that transfusions of blood plasma from convalescents, which were sometimes performed to treat new patients, appeared to have beneficial effects.

Sir Peter said it would be sensible to start recruiting volunteers to be immunised against H5N1, whose blood could then be used to provide antibodies. “Once there is a pandemic, making immunoglobulins from convalescent patients will be a valuable thing to do. However, if the first wave is explosive there will be insufficient time. But if the initial outbreak stutters then it should work well.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2333845,00.html

Dog contracts bird flu in central Thailand: doctor​

http://english.people.com.cn/200608/31/eng20060831_298393.html

A dog in Thai central province of Suphan Buri has been found contracting the deadly bird flu virus after eating infected ducks, a Thai doctor said Wednesday.

Professor Dr. Yong Pooworawan of the Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Medicine, who disclosed the news, refused to elaborate further on the findings, including when the dog was found contracting the virus or whether the dog has died of the disease.

According to Thai newspaper the Nation, a researcher at the Kasetsart University first found the bird-flu infection in the dog and the findings will be published in a foreign journal -- Emerging of Infectious Diseases -- soon.

Thailand is now fighting a new outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu virus, which has been confirmed in several provinces across the country.

The latest outbreak killed two man in northern provinces, prompting officials to conduct a large-scale culling of infected chickens.

Several hundred persons have also been placed under quarantine as the Thai government attempts to contain the outbreak.

Source: Xinhua

Indonesia: suspected bird flu case​

http://www.health24.com/news/Flu_Influenza/1-912,37280.asp

A 60-year-old man from West Java in Indonesia has been admitted to hospital for treatment of suspected bird flu. The man is from the same area - Cikelet - where other people have been infected and killed by bird flu.

A health official said the man was admitted to hospital with high fever and respiratory problems, both symptoms of bird flu. He owned 10 chickens that died suddenly two days before he was taken to the general hospital in Garut, Agence France Presse reported.

In the past few days, thousands of domestic birds have been killed in Cikelet and more birds are due to be slaughtered, an official said. So far, Indonesia has had 60 confirmed cases of bird flu, and 46 of them have been fatal, the highest number of deaths of any country, AFP reported.

Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, has been criticised for not doing enough to control bird flu. Experts fear that the more cases of bird flu that occur, the greater the risk that the H5N1 virus will mutate into a form that's easily transmitted between humans. That could spark a global pandemic. -(HealthDayNews, August 2006)

Two more suspected human bird flu patients treated in Indone​

http://www.antara.co.id/en/seenws/?id=19149

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Two more people from a bird flu-hit area in Indonesia's West Java have been admitted to hospital on suspicion of
contracting avian influenza, health officials said.

The first patient, 17-year-old Asep Ridwan, was taken on Tuesday to
hospital in Garut, West Java, from the hamlet of Ranca Salak in the subdistrict of Cikelet where three people have already been infected by bird flu, said Iman Firmanullah.

Birds in Ranca Salak tested positive of the H5N1 strain of the disease but no information was obtained whether Ridwan had been in contact with them, said Firmanullah, who heads the contagious disease section at Garut's health office.

The Garut general hospital overnight received a 39-year-old man from the
nearby hamlet of Cigadog who showed symptoms of bird flu, Firmanullah told AFP.

Three other people from Cikelet are also suspected of having been killed by the disease.

The district animal husbandry office has culled a total of 4,697 birds,
including chicken, ducks, geese and doves in the six villages in Cikelet in the past days, said Dida Kardiana, an official from the office in Garut.

He said his office was awaiting for further instructions from the central
government before carrying out more culling in Cikelet.

Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, has 60 confirmed cases of infection so far, 46 of them fatal, the highest number in the world.

While the H5N1 virus that causes bird flu does not spread easily among
people, the chance of a mutation occurring which will allow it to do so is heightened as more humans catch it from infected birds.

Scientists fear that if this occurs, a global flu pandemic with a massive

Four treated in Indonesia for H5N1 symptoms​

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/JAK299676.htm

JAKARTA, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Four people have been admitted to an Indonesian hospital with bird flu symptoms in an area of West Java that has seen a series of confirmed and suspected cases in humans, officials said on Thursday.

At least two people in Cikelet, about 90 km (55 miles) south of the provincial capital of West Java, Bandung, have been confirmed to have died from the H5N1 virus in recent weeks.

"Three people with symptoms including breathlessness have been hospitalised since last night at Dr. Slamet hospital," said Hendi Budiman, head of administration at the Garut Health Office, the district where Cikelet is located.

"They come from Cikelet. Two are neighbours, but they are not related."

Yogi Prayogi, a spokesman at Dr Slamet hospital, said blood samples had been sent to Jakarta for testing.

"Three people showing symptoms will be allowed to return today. But they will be monitored," he said, adding that the three lived around chickens and dead fowl had been seen.

He said an 8-year-old boy with bird flu symptoms had also been admitted. Indonesia has so far recorded 60 bird flu cases, 46 of them fatal. The country's death toll is the highest in the world.

Separately, a local health ministry official said three out of five people admitted to hospital on Indonesia's Sulawesi island this week with bird-flu like symptoms were related.

"Three are related, they are cousins," said Ida Bagus Yadnya Putra, head of communicable disease control at the health ministry in Central Sulawesi province.

The official said that dead chickens had been found around their homes.

"They came to hospital to get medicine but refused to stay for treatment. They didn't come to the hospital at the same time. Now, they are getting better."

Blood samples from the five had also been sent to Jakarta for testing.

Fears that the virus had mutated into a form that could pass easily between humans heightened in May when seven people from an extended family died of the disease in Indonesia's North Sumatra.

Scientists worry that the H5N1 virus that has killed around 140 people and millions of birds since 2003 as it spread from Asia to Europe and Africa could mutate into a strain that could spark a human pandemic.

Indonesia has seen a steady increase in human bird flu deaths this year and the virus is endemic in poultry in nearly all of the provinces of the sprawling archipelago.

The country, which has been criticised for not doing enough to stamp out H5N1, has shied away from mass culling of poultry so far citing the expense and the logistical difficulties because of the millions of backyard fowl.

Indonesian H5 Sequences in Wild Birds in North America​

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/08300601/H5N1_Canada_Indo.html

Recombinomics Commentary
August 30, 2006

In August 2005, a wildlife survey of wild birds in southern Canada included swabbing and testing for avian influenza. The swabs yielded a remarkably high percentage of positives for H5 bird flu. Serotypes H5N1, H5N2, H5N3, and H5N9 were identified. 24% of birds in British Columbia were H5 positive. The first H5 sequence was released last month, and as expected, it was a low path H5N2 with polymorphisms commonly found in North America. However, because the H5 was evolving via recombination, newly acquired polymorphisms could be traced.

Earlier analysis identified polymorphisms acquired from swine in Canada. These swine had obvious recombination in PB2 and PA and also had a human PB1 which served as a reservoir for seasonal flu polymorphisms. The swine have also been infected in North America have also been infected with a number of reassortants with avian genes.

After the swine sequences weres made public, Indonesia released sequences from H5N1 infected patients, and these sequences had a number of polymorphisms that were widely found in both bird and human isolates from Indonesia. One of those HA polymorphisms was also found in the H5 of the wild bird from Canada.

Recently, low path H5N1 was also found in Michigan, suggesting the H5 detected August of 2005 in southern Canada is also present in wild birds in the United States. The interactions between birds and swine, which involve both reassortment and recombination, creates an increasingly unstable avian influenza gene pool, which is cause for concern.

ISDN136817 A/Feline/Indonesia/CDC1/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN133316 A/Indonesia/283H/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN133323 A/Indonesia/286H/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN138748 A/Indonesia/292H/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN136841 A/Indonesia/298H/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN136849 A/Indonesia/304H/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN138764 A/Indonesia/321H/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN138772 A/Indonesia/341H/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN140810 A/Indonesia/534H/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN140894 A/Indonesia/535H/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN140895 A/Indonesia/536H/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN140818 A/Indonesia/538H/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN140926 A/Indonesia/542H/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN187421 A/Indonesia/546bH/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN140896 A/Indonesia/546H/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN185493 A/Indonesia/560H/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN187429 A/Indonesia/567H/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN187437 A/Indonesia/569H/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN187445 A/Indonesia/583H/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN187453 A/Indonesia/604H/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN136812 A/Indonesia/CDC326/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN136810 A/Indonesia/CDC326N/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN136811 A/Indonesia/CDC326N2/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN136813 A/Indonesia/CDC326T/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN136814 A/Indonesia/CDC326T/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN136815 A/Indonesia/CDC329/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN136816 A/Indonesia/CDC357/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN136908 A/Indonesia/CDC370/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN136909 A/Indonesia/CDC370E/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN137412 A/Indonesia/CDC370P/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN137413 A/Indonesia/CDC370T/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN137414 A/Indonesia/CDC390/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN181365 A/Indonesia/CDC523/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN183297 A/Indonesia/CDC523E/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN183305 A/Indonesia/CDC523T/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN183313 A/Indonesia/CDC582/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN140835 A/Indonesia/CDC594/06 2006 H5N1
ISDN140843 A/Indonesia/CDC595/06 2006 H5N1
ISDN140851 A/Indonesia/CDC596/06 2006 H5N1
ISDN140859 A/Indonesia/CDC597/06 2006 H5N1
ISDN140866 A/Indonesia/CDC599/06 2006 H5N1
ISDN183782 A/Indonesia/CDC599N/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN183698 A/Indonesia/CDC610/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN183706 A/Indonesia/CDC623/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN183714 A/Indonesia/CDC623E/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN183722 A/Indonesia/CDC624/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN183730 A/Indonesia/CDC624E/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN183738 A/Indonesia/CDC625/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN183770 A/Indonesia/CDC625L/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN183746 A/Indonesia/CDC634/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN183754 A/Indonesia/CDC634P/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN183762 A/Indonesia/CDC634T/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN207111 A/Indonesia/CDC644/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN207103 A/Indonesia/CDC644T/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN204133 A/Indonesia/CDC669/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN204141 A/Indonesia/CDC669P/2006 2006 H5N1
ISDN204149 A/Indonesia/CDC699/2006 2006 H5N1
DQ320932 A/chicken/Bantul/BBVet-I/2005 2005 H5N1
DQ497667 A/chicken/Dairi/BPPVI/2005 2005 H5N1
DQ497668 A/chicken/Deli Serdang/BPPVI/2005 2005 H5N1
DQ497651 A/chicken/Gunung Kidal/BBVW/2005 2005 H5N1
ISDN129601 A/Chicken/Indonesia/CDC24/2005 2005 H5N1
ISDN129590 A/Chicken/Indonesia/CDC25/2005 2005 H5N1
AM183670 A/chicken/Indonesia/R60/05 2005 H5N1
ISDN187385 A/Chicken/Indonesia/Wates1/2005 2005 H5N1
ISDN187389 A/Chicken/Indonesia/Wates126/2005 2005 H5N1
ISDN187386 A/Chicken/Indonesia/Wates130/2005 2005 H5N1
ISDN187388 A/Chicken/Indonesia/Wates80/2005 2005 H5N1
ISDN187390 A/Chicken/Indonesia/Wates83/2005 2005 H5N1
DQ497643 A/chicken/Magetan/BBVW/2005 2005 H5N1
DQ497648 A/chicken/Purworejo/BBVW/2005 2005 H5N1
DQ320928 A/chicken/Salatiga/BBVet-I/2005 2005 H5N1
DQ497665 A/chicken/Simalanggang/BPPVI/2005 2005 H5N1
DQ497669 A/chicken/Tarutung/BPPVI/2005 2005 H5N1
DQ497666 A/chicken/Tebing Tinggi/BPPVI/2005 2005 H5N1
DQ320933 A/chicken/Wajo/BBVM/2005 2005 H5N1
DQ497659 A/duck/Parepare/BBVM/2005 2005 H5N1
ISDN130373 A/Indonesia/160H/2005 2005 H5N1
ISDN130365 A/Indonesia/175H/2005 2005 H5N1
ISDN130912 A/Indonesia/195H/2005 2005 H5N1
ISDN132406 A/Indonesia/239H/2005 2005 H5N1
ISDN132414 A/Indonesia/245H/2005 2005 H5N1
ISDN125873 A/Indonesia/5/05 2005 H5N1
ISDN125783 A/Indonesia/5/2005 2005 H5N1
ISDN128026 A/Indonesia/6/2005 2005 H5N1
ISDN129527 A/Indonesia/7/2005 2005 H5N1
ISDN129921 A/Indonesia/CDC184/2005 2005 H5N1
ISDN129922 A/Indonesia/CDC194P/2005 2005 H5N1
ISDN136806 A/Indonesia/CDC287E/2005 2005 H5N1
ISDN136807 A/Indonesia/CDC287T/2005 2005 H5N1
ISDN136808 A/Indonesia/CDC292N/2005 2005 H5N1
ISDN136809 A/Indonesia/CDC292T/2005 2005 H5N1
ISDN129582 A/Indonesia/CDC7/2005 2005 H5N1
DQ826532 A/mallard/BC/373/2005 2005 H5N2
DQ497655 A/chicken/Bangli Bali/BBPV6-1/2004 2004 H5N1
DQ497656 A/chicken/Bangli Bali/BPPV6-2/2004 2004 H5N1
DQ497657 A/chicken/Jembrana/BPPV6/2004 2004 H5N1
DQ320931 A/chicken/Kulon Progo/BBVet-XII-1/2004 2004 H5N1
DQ497650 A/chicken/Kulon Progo/BBVet-XII-2/2004 2004 H5N1
DQ497662 A/chicken/Kupang-1-NTT/BPPV6/2004 2004 H5N1
DQ497660 A/chicken/Kupang-2-NTT/BPPV6/2004 2004 H5N1
DQ497661 A/chicken/Kupang-3-NTT/BPPV6/2004 2004 H5N1
DQ497642 A/chicken/Malang/BBVet-IV/2004 2004 H5N1
DQ497658 A/chicken/Mangarai-NTT/BPPV6/2004 2004 H5N1
DQ497644 A/chicken/Ngawi/BPPV4/2004 2004 H5N1
DQ497663 A/chicken/Pangkalpinang/BPPV3/2004 2004 H5N1
DQ497653 A/chicken/Purwakarta/BBVet-IV/2004 2004 H5N1
DQ320930 A/chicken/Yogjakarta/BBVet-IX/2004 2004 H5N1
AY651325 A/Ck/Indonesia/5/2004 2004 H5N1
AY651322 A/Dk/Indonesia/MS/2004 2004 H5N1
DQ497647 A/quail/Boyolali/BPPV4/2004 2004 H5N1
DQ497654 A/quail/Tasikmalaya/BPPV4/2004 2004 H5N1
DQ497649 A/quail/Yogjakarta/BBVet-IX/2004 2004 H5N1
DQ497664 A/turkey/Kedaton/BPPV3/2004 2004 H5N1
ISDN111352 A/Chicken/Indonesia/11/2003 2003 H5N1
ISDN111351 A/Chicken/Indonesia/7/2003 2003 H5N1
AM183669 A/chicken/Indonesia/R134/03 2003 H5N1
DQ497645 A/chicken/Pekalongan/BPPV4/2003 2003 H5N1
DQ497646 A/chicken/Sragen/BPPV4/2003 2003 H5N1
DQ320929 A/chicken/Wonosobo/BPPV4/2003 2003 H5N1
AY651323 A/Ck/Indonesia/2A/2003 2003 H5N1
AY651321 A/Ck/Indonesia/BL/2003 2003 H5N1
AY651320 A/Ck/Indonesia/PA/2003 2003 H5N1
AB241623 A/duck/Hokkaido/84/02 2002 H5N3
AY296083 A/turkey/CA/D0208651-C/02 2002 H5N2
AY296077 A/duck/NJ/117228-7/01 2001 H5N2
U79455 A/Turkey/Minnesota/10734/95 1995 H5N2
U05332 A/chicken/Florida/25717/93 1993 H5N2
U05331 A/chicken/Pennsylvania/13609/93 1993 H5N2
U28920 A/Emu/Texas/39442/93 (HP progeny) 1993 H5N2
U05330 A/ruddy turnstone/Delaware/244/91 1991 H5N2
U67783 A/Mallard/Ohio/556/1987 1987 H5N9

Indonesia Struggles to Contain Bird Flu

http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-08-31-voa9.cfm

By Chad Bouchard
Kaben Jahe, Indonesia
31 August 2006


Indonesia is struggling to contain the spread of the deadly bird flu virus in people and poultry. The country now has the world's largest number of human bird flu deaths, and critics say it needs to do more to eradicate the disease. But, as Chad Bouchard reports from the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the government's efforts are hampered by limited resources and resistance from local communities.

In the isolated mountain community of Dairi in north Sumatra, about 200 villagers file into a packed meeting house. Everybody is talking about a frightening rumor that has been circulating all day.

He confirms that someone from the village has been hospitalized for avian influenza. Five chickens have tested positive for the H5N1 virus as well. He tells them the next morning all birds within a one-kilometer radius will be killed, to keep the virus from spreading.

Other countries hard hit by the H5N1 virus, such as Vietnam and Thailand, have made significant progress against the disease by killing large numbers of poultry once an outbreak is detected.

In August Indonesia recorded its 60th case of bird flu in humans, 46 of which have been fatal, the highest human death toll from the disease.

And some scientists are concerned this high death rate is partly due to Indonesia's reluctance so far to cull birds.

Tumanggor acknowledges Indonesia has had a difficult time stopping bird flu. But he says the country faces unique challenges. Its population is spread over 17,000 islands, domestic fowl roam everywhere, and there is widespread resistance to the central government among many of its diverse cultures.

"Criticism from other countries is normal," he said. "But sometimes the critics assign blame because they don't really understand Indonesia. Information in the media about this country is not complete. But if they looked at the whole picture, people would understand how difficult our task is, and that we are doing our best with what we have."

John Weaver is an advisor on avian flu with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, which is helping Indonesia fight the disease. He says Jakarta's culling program is not rigorous enough. In some cases only 30 or 40 percent of the birds in an area are killed because villagers do not cooperate.

"You know village poultry are recognized as a valuable asset both in terms of their food value, but also they're a liquid asset in that they can be sold to pay school fees or some medical fees, or something like that, so they are valued within the system. One needs to work within communities and address the fact that this is a potential loss to them," said Weaver.

Compensating villagers for their poultry is expensive, and the government currently pays only half the market price for birds that are culled. Some villagers fail to report outbreaks of disease in poultry or they hide their birds during a cull.

Indonesia says the high cost of compensation is one of the biggest barriers to controlling the virus. The government says it needs $900 million for bird flu containment programs over three years but can only afford $150 million.

But international donors have been reluctant to commit funds. Donor nations have asked for details of how the money will be spent but the Indonesian government has so far failed to provide a plan.

Indonesia also caused concern in August when it reduced its annual budget for bird flu programs from $57 million to $46 million. The World Bank said the cuts sent the wrong message to international donors.

Under pressure from the international community, Jakarta has agreed to restore funding to its previous level.

The U.N.'s Weaver says getting the virus under control in Indonesia will require sustained support from donors.

"It's not going to be a quick fix," he said. "It's not a one or two year program, it's a five to ten year program. And it's very resource dependent. And it's dependent on both the commitment of the resourcing within Indonesia - but one has to recognize that that's finite - and the response that's expected is beyond the capacity within Indonesia. So there has to be greater international commitment."

Back in Dairi, police demand residents bring out their chickens to be destroyed. Health workers dressed in sterile white clothes, masks and hoods sweep the village, slaughtering captured birds in the streets.

At the end of a dusty road, a woman who goes by the honorary title of Nandetedi, or "grandma" in the local dialect, says the villagers do not understand.

"You know, we don't even have words for 'avian influenza' in the local language," she said. "We do not know how and why the chickens die. We only know the chickens are sick. All of us are healthy. Moreover, I'm an old person, and I'm not afraid of chickens."

Once the police and health workers have gone, simmering resentment remains over the loss of birds and the damage to the economy.

Indonesia has announced it will expand the culling of backyard poultry, and the country is rolling out a widespread public awareness campaign about bird flu on television and radio stations.

The H5N1 virus cannot spread easily among people but there are fears a mutation may occur that will allow it to do so if more humans catch the disease from infected birds.

And as long as an estimated 300 million chickens continue living in close contact with people, the chance remains for a deadly epidemic in Indonesia. But for now, many bird owners remain unconvinced of that risk.

More on using blood plasma from recovering patients:

August 30, 2006

Navy researcher, colleagues make bird flu breakthrough

By Chris Amos
Staff writer


A research team led by a Navy scientist claims that blood plasma taken from bird flu survivors could significantly reduce death rates in a bird flu pandemic.

The research team’s findings were published Tuesday in the online edition of Annals of Internal Medicine.


The findings were based on clinical data taken from the Bureau of Navy Medicine and Surgery’s historical archives. The data, collected during the 1919 Spanish influenza epidemic, showed that blood transfusions from fully recovered Spanish influenza survivors to seriously ill patients had reduced death rates by about 50 percent.

Lt. Cmdr. Thomas C. Luke, the team’s leader, said the findings could provide a relatively simple way of combating a bird flu epidemic.

“Plasma is produced in local hospitals worldwide and transfusions might be useful in treating bird flu patients during outbreaks and pandemics, especially in light of the limitations of existing treatment options,” Luke said in a Navy Bureau of Medicine press release. “A single recovered bird flu patient could donate a weekly volume of plasma sufficient to treat many patients with H5N1 influenza.”

The team has proposed further studies to determine how effective these treatments would be in treating bird flu patients.

Vietnam

HCMC airport told to set up bird flu quarantine​

http://www.thanhniennews.com/print.php?catid=7&newsid=19521

Ho Chi Minh City airport officials have said there is no space to quarantine passengers suspected to have type A H5N1 bird flu but the city health agency has rejected the argument and insisted they set up one.

Tan Son Nhat Airport managers said at a meeting with the HCMC Health Department on Wednesday that since the airport was too small they were unable to set up a quarantine but instead immediately sent suspected patients to hospital by ambulance.

Le Truong Giang, the department deputy director, insisted however that a separation area was imperative.

He explained that since equipment available at the airport could not diagnose bird flu, people with other fevers were also rushed to hospital, an act that could panic other passengers as well as affect other airport activities.

Source: Sai Gon Giai Phong – Translated by An Dien

Story from Thanh Nien News
Published: 31 August, 2006, 11:49:32 (GMT+7)
Copyright Thanh Nien News

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/29/AR2006082901603.html

Battling a Virus and Disbelief
Sumatran Villagers With Avian Influenza Turn to Witch Doctors

By Alan Sipress
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, August 30, 2006; Page A12

JANDI MERIAH, Indonesia -- Dowes Ginting, the most wanted man on Sumatra island, lay dying. He had abandoned the hospital where he had seen his relatives succumb one after another, and he had fled deep into the mountains, trying to outrun the black magic he feared had marked him next. For four nights, witnesses recalled, a witch doctor hovered over him in a small clapboard home, resisting the evil spell.

Ginting, a wiry 32-year-old, had watched disease burn through his family over the previous two weeks, killing six and sickening two others, including himself. International health experts grew increasingly concerned when laboratory tests confirmed they were sickened by bird flu, the largest cluster of the disease ever recorded. But Dowes feared medical treatment more than he did the flu. And so he ran, potentially exposing villagers across the province to the highly lethal virus.


Health experts fear that the virus might develop into a strain that passes easily from human to human, the genesis of the 1918 epidemic that killed tens of millions of people worldwide, as new research has shown.

Bird Flu Cluster
The investigation into the largest cluster of human bird flu cases - in an Indonesian village - has raised the question whether the disease could ever be contained if the virus mutated into a form more easily spread among people.


In the end, the outbreak in May did not presage the start of a worldwide epidemic. But the enormous difficulties that Indonesian and international disease specialists confronted in investigating the outbreak and protecting against its spread raised fundamental questions about whether bird flu could be contained if it mutated into a form more easily spread among people.

"If this were a strain with sustainable transmission from human to human, I can't imagine how many people would have died, how many lives would have been lost," said Surya Dharma, chief of communicable disease control in North Sumatra province.

Officials from the World Health Organization, drawing on sophisticated computer modeling of a theoretical bird flu outbreak in Southeast Asia, have suggested that a pandemic could be thwarted through a rapid containment effort in the affected area, including the right mix of drugs, quarantines and other social controls. To succeed, the antiviral drug Tamiflu would have to be distributed to 90 percent of the targeted population, roughly defined as those within at least a three-mile radius of each case. The drug would have to be administered within 21 days from the "timely detection" of the initial case of an epidemic strain. Residents would have to stay home, limit contact with others and take the medicine as prescribed.

In the case of the North Sumatra cluster, almost none of this happened, according to extensive interviews with health officers, family members and villagers in several areas of the province. The underlying problem was that most family members and many villagers were convinced that black magic, not flu, was to blame.

"How can you ever get people to cooperate if they don't even believe you?" Dharma said.

Tracking the Flu's Path

Scientists are still working to determine how bird flu is transmitted to and between humans. More than 200 people worldwide have contracted the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus since 2004. Most of the cases have resulted from direct or close contact with infected live or uncooked poultry, or with surfaces contaminated with secretions and excretions from infected birds.

Health investigators have concluded that the eight-person cluster in Sumatra began with Ginting's older sister, who fell ill in late April. They suspect she was infected with bird flu from live chickens sold in a market where she peddled oranges, limes and chili peppers, or from contaminated poultry droppings in manure used in her garden. She died and was buried before any samples were taken to confirm bird flu.

Several days after she became sick, the extended family gathered in the village of Kubu Sembilang for a feast of roast pig and chicken curry to celebrate the annual harvest festival. That night, many of the relatives slept in the same small room with the sister, who had developed a serious cough. By the time she died, a sister, a brother, two sons, a niece and a nephew had become ill. Flu specialists said the final victim, Dowes Ginting, in turn likely caught the virus from his infected son.

Health experts have concluded this was the first time the bird flu virus was passed from one person to another and then on to a third person.

"None of us thought it was bird flu. We thought it was black magic," said Anestia Tarigan, the wife of the youngest Ginting brother, Jones, the only victim to survive. "Everyone in the family was getting sick and no one else was. Someone had put a spell on our family. Black magic is very common in our place."

CONTINUED 1 2 3 Next >

Four treated in Indonesia for H5N1 symptoms ​

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Di...ptember2006&file=World_News20060901111612.xml

Web posted at: 9/1/2006 11:16:12
Source ::: REUTERS

JAKARTA • Four people have been admitted to an Indonesian hospital with bird flu symptoms in an area of West Java that has seen a series of confirmed and suspected cases in humans, officials said yesterday.

At least two people in Cikelet, about 90km south of the provincial capital of West Java, Bandung, have been confirmed to have died from the H5N1 virus in recent weeks.

“Three people with symptoms including breathlessness have been hospitalised since last night at Dr. Slamet hospital,” said Hendi Budiman, head of administration at the Garut Health Office, the district where Cikelet is located. “They come from Cikelet. Two are neighbours, but they are not related.” Yogi Prayogi, a spokesman at Dr Slamet hospital, said blood samples had been sent to Jakarta for testing.

“Three people showing symptoms will be allowed to return today. But they will be monitored,” he said, adding that the three lived around chickens and dead fowl had been seen. He said an 8-year-old boy with bird flu symptoms had also been admitted. Indonesia has so far recorded 60 bird flu cases, 46 of them fatal. Separately, a local health ministry official said three out of five people admitted to hospital on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island this week with bird-flu like symptoms were related. “Three are related, they are cousins,” said Ida Bagus Yadnya Putra, head of communicable disease control at the health ministry in Central Sulawesi province.

Indonesia pledges to make bird flu 'history,'
dismisses foreign criticism​

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/01/asia/AS_GEN_Indonesia_Bird_Flu.php

The Associated Press

Published: September 1, 2006
JAKARTA, Indonesia Indonesia pledged Friday to eliminate bird flu as it launched a public awareness campaign about the virus, which has killed at least 46 people in the sprawling country.

"We want bird flu to become part of history," said Bayu Krisnamurthi, head of the country's bird flu commission.

Indonesia, the country worst hit by bird flu, has attracted international criticism for not doing enough to stamp out the virus in its vast poultry stocks.

The "Be Aware of Bird Flu" campaign will feature TV adverts calling on people to report dead birds to authorities and wash hands after handling chickens or visiting markets, Krisnamurthi said.

The H5N1 virus has killed at least 141 people worldwide since it began ravaging Asian poultry stocks in late 2003.

Most people have been infected after coming into contact with sick birds and the virus remains very hard to catch. But experts fear it could mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans, possibly sparking a pandemic.


JAKARTA, Indonesia Indonesia pledged Friday to eliminate bird flu as it launched a public awareness campaign about the virus, which has killed at least 46 people in the sprawling country.

"We want bird flu to become part of history," said Bayu Krisnamurthi, head of the country's bird flu commission.

Indonesia, the country worst hit by bird flu, has attracted international criticism for not doing enough to stamp out the virus in its vast poultry stocks.

The "Be Aware of Bird Flu" campaign will feature TV adverts calling on people to report dead birds to authorities and wash hands after handling chickens or visiting markets, Krisnamurthi said.

The H5N1 virus has killed at least 141 people worldwide since it began ravaging Asian poultry stocks in late 2003.

Most people have been infected after coming into contact with sick birds and the virus remains very hard to catch. But experts fear it could mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans, possibly sparking a pandemic.