Bird flu: 54 Indonesians ill

2005-09-28 15:12

Jakarta - At least 54 people were being treated on Wednesday for suspected bird flu in Indonesia, where the disease had already claimed six lives, said officials.

Deputy director of Jakarta's Sulianto Saroso hospital, Sardikin Giriputro, said they would soon discharge three of 20 suspected bird flu patients after tests gave them a clean bill of health.

He said the three, two adult men and one two-year-old infant would be able to leave the hospital once a clearance was obtained from the health ministry.

Giriputro said: "Once the clearance... is received on Wednesday, they will be returned home tomorrow."

WHO test blood, mucus samples

The latest suspected case - a 23-year-old man from the capital - was admitted to the hospital late on Tuesday.

Blood and mucus samples from the patients were being tested locally and any results indicating bird flu would be sent to World Health Organisation (WHO) laboratories in Hong Kong for confirmation.

Since Monday, the hospital had released five people who were suspected of contracting bird flu, but tested negative.

Health ministry spokesperson Sumardi said on Wednesday that a shipment of some 20 000 doses of Tamiflu, an anti-viral medication that could stop flu if administered promptly, would arrive in the country on Friday.

Six Indonesians died

He said: "This medicine will be sold commercially at pharmacies." So far, it had only been available in hospitals.

Six Indonesians had died of bird flu, bringing to 65 the number of people in Southeast Asia known to have been killed by the H5N1 strain of the virus since 2003.

Vietnam had recorded 43 deaths, Thailand 12 and Cambodia four.

The WHO feared H5N1 would mutate, acquiring genes from the human influenza virus that would make it highly infectious and lethal to millions in a global pandemic.

But, it had also urged calm, saying investigations in Indonesia had produced no evidence that H5N1 was spreading easily from person to person.

- AFP