- (Xinhua) -- Initial laboratory tests showed a 23-year
old Indonesian woman had died of bird flu, Indonesian Health Ministry
said Monday. The health officials were waiting for the result of a 2nd
laboratory test for confirmation that she was positive for the avian influenza
virus, an official of the Anti-bird flu Center of the Ministry Ahmad Prihatna
said.
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- The woman from Central Jakarta died on Sunday evening,
April 1 2007, at the hospital of Persahabatan in East Jakarta, he said.
She died at the hospital one hour after being moved from the Islamic Hospital
in Central Jakarta, said Prihatna.
-
- Should the 2nd test be positive, she would be the 72nd
fatality case out of 92 contracted cases in the country. The official said
that it was not clear whether the woman had historical contacts with fowls.
-
- The number of bird flu cases in Indonesia has increased
recently after months of absence of new cases. The country has agreed to
share its bird flu virus samples with the World Health Organization (WHO)
for scientific purpose. Indonesian health authorities have imposed a firm
policy of separating fowls from human and surveillance on the viruses.
Raising fowls in residential areas is forbidden. But the policy seems not
to be working, as authorities in most of the 32 provinces in the country
have failed to put it into effect, Indonesian Health Ministry Siti Fadilah
Sufari told the Xinhua News Agency.
-
- Officials from the home affair ministry said that lack
of funds, human resources, and fluctuating weather were among obstacles
to control of the disease.
-
- Experts have warned international community of the risks
of the disease should Indonesia fail to prevent the highly pathogenic H5N1
virus from spreading. Millions of people could be killed should the virus
mutate into a certain level, which can make it transmittable among humans.
-
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- Patricia A. Doyle DVM, PhD
- Bus Admin, Tropical Agricultural Economics
- Univ of West Indies
-
- Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message
board at:
- http://www.emergingdisease.org/phpbb/index.php
- Also my new website:
- http://drpdoyle.tripod.com/
- Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
- Go with God and in Good Health
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