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Indonesian boy dies of bird flu
04/07/2006 10:39 - (SA)
Jakarta - Indonesia warned more human bird flu deaths were inevitable after a five-year-old boy succumbed to the virus, raising the sprawling country's death toll to 41, the health minister said on Tuesday.
"We will continue to have bird flu patients because we have infected chickens in 27 provinces," Siti Fadilah Supari told reporters.
"It is only logical that there will be new cases."
The latest victim died on June 16 in Tulungagung, a town in East Java, she said, citing World Health Organisation-sanctioned test results.
She said the boy was suspected of catching the virus from chickens that died close to his home. Other family members have been tested for the virus, she said, but gave no more details.
Supari said Indonesia's current death toll stood at 41. The WHO lists 39 fatalities, though the UN agency often takes a few days to update its database.
Indonesia has been criticised for not routinely culling fowl in infected areas, something experts agree is the best way to stop it spreading. The government says it does not have enough money to compensate farmers.
Vietnam's death toll is the world's highest at 42, but it has not recorded any cases this year amid an aggressive culling policy.
Bird flu has killed at least 130 people worldwide since it started ravaging Asian poultry farms in late 2003, according to the WHO figures.
Most human cases have been linked to contact with infected birds, but experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that makes it more easily transmissible among humans.
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