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Bird flu deaths hit Indonesia
12/02/2006 09:20 - (SA)
Jakarta - Results of tests by the World Health Organisation (WHO) showed that two Indonesian women who died in hospital last week had died of bird flu, a hospital spokesperson said on Sunday.
A 27-year-old who died at the Julianti Saroso hospital on Friday and a 22-year-old who died a day earlier both tested positive for the H5N1 strain of the virus, Julianti Saroso Spokesman Ilham Patu told AFP.
The confirmation by a WHO laboratory in Hong Kong takes Indonesia's death toll from the virus to 18. Both had already been been declared positive in locally-conducted tests.
Meanwhile, an 11-month-old baby was admitted Saturday to the hospital suffering bird flu symptoms.
"He was brought in with high fever and respiratory difficulties," Patu said, adding that the boy was from East Bekasi, near the capital,
Another patient, a man who was admitted Friday, is awaiting results of local tests, he said.
The virus has killed more than 87 people, mostly in Asia, since 2003, although four have died this year in Turkey and two in northern Iraq.
Experts fear that the virus could mutate into a form easily transmitted by humans and spark a global pandemic killing millions.
Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, was initially accused of covering up the virus, which is transmitted by close contact with infected poultry.
Many Indonesians live with chickens around their homes, even in urban areas, creating ideal conditions for infections to pass from the birds to humans.
A WHO team warned last month that Indonesia needed to focus more on measures aimed at preventing such virus transmission and also on preparations for a possible human pandemic.
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