Indonesian woman dies of H5N1

2007-10-08 13:34

Jakarta - A 44-year-old woman from Indonesia's Sumatra island has died of bird flu, raising the toll in the nation worst affected by the disease to 87, the health ministry said on Monday.

The woman died at the general hospital in Pekanbaru, central Sumatra. Two samples taken from the woman tested positive for the H5N1 virus, the health ministry's bird flu information centre said in a press release.

"The total number of cumulative Avian Influenza human cases in Indonesia is 108, with 87 deaths," the centre said in the statement.

The woman, who was first treated at a clinic on October 1, was moved to a private hospital in Pekanbaru the next day before being transferred to the state referral hospital for bird flu cases, the centre said.

The centre said the woman exhibited the usual symptoms of the disease, which include fever, low red and white blood cell counts and pneumonia.

Infected birds

The statement said the woman died on Saturday, though a doctor at the state hospital said she died on Friday.

"It is not clear yet whether she had any contact with infected birds," said Ningrum, a doctor on duty at the Bird Flu Information Centre.

A joint team from Jakarta and the local health office were already at the victim's home to search for infected birds and to determine if she had come into contact with them, Ningrum said.

The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu is usually transmitted directly from infected birds - typically poultry - to humans.

However, scientists fear that the virus could eventually mutate into a form easily transmissible between people, triggering a global pandemic.

H5N1 is widespread in poultry across Indonesia's sprawling archipelago.

The World Health Organisation announced last week worldwide human deaths from bird flu had reached 201. Besides Indonesia, deaths were recorded in Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Iraq, Laos, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.

Affordable medicines

Indonesia has been sharply criticised for being slow to act in its fight to control bird flu, which has spread easily in a nation where many people keep chickens and other birds in their backyards and homes.

It was also dressed down after it halted sending samples of the virus to the World Health Organisation, saying it wanted a guarantee of affordable medicines to treat sufferers before it did so.

The health ministry reverted however to sharing samples again last month, it said.

- AFP