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Last Updated: Jun 30, 2008 - 11:14:37 AM |
16 July, (foodconsumer.org) - Health authorities in Indonesia confirmed that a 44-year-old man from east Jakarta died of bird flu. Officials said the man died on July 12 after spending two days in a local hospital. The man was known to have had close contacts with birds and hence became infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus.
Local tests had confirmed the presence of H5N1 avian flu virus and samples were sent to the World Health Organization accredited laboratory in Hong Kong for confirmatory tests. The latest death in Indonesia’s 42nd human bird flu death and brings it on par with Vietnam as far as death toll is concerned.
"Local tests showed the man was infected with H5N1 strain of virus," Joko, an official with the health ministry was quoted by dpa. "The man's specimen has been sent to Hong Kong for confirmation." A 3-year-old girl who died July 14 was the country's 41st bird flu victim. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta confirmed that case last week.
Vietnam was the leading country to report the most bird flu deaths before Indonesia. Most of the human bird flu deaths in Indonesia have occurred after January this year. It is believed that avian influenza is now endemic in poultry in the country’s 33 provinces. Thirty people have died of bird flu in Indonesia this year.
In May a cluster of bird flu deaths had triggered fears that the H5N1 virus had mutated to a form easily transmitted between humans. Experts believe that if this mutation were to happen, it will result in massive bird flu causalities around the world.
Earlier last week scientists reported in the journal Nature that multiple mutations had occurred in the Indonesian family cluster, but the significance of these mutations remains unclear.
The World Health Organization admitted that a partial human-to-human transmission had occurred in the Indonesia bird flu cluster. However there are no reports of similar clusters since then. But the death toll continues to climb. In fact in May bird flu claimed a life every two and half days in Indonesia.
Health experts have criticized Indonesia for failing to take strict measures to curb bird flu. The country did not sanction culling poultry until the situation nearly got out of hand. The government has defended itself by claiming that it does not have enough money to compensate farmers and hence cannot take up culling operations on a large scale.
The bird flu virus first surfaced in Asia in 1997 and then again resurfaced in 2003. Since then it has spread rapidly across Asia and Europe as well as Africa. Till now the virus has only been transmitted after close contact with infected birds and coming in contact with saliva, nasal secretions, and feces.
The infection attacks the lower respiratory tract and hence is not transmissible between humans. If any mutation converts bird flu into an upper respiratory tract infection, the chances of pandemic will rise exponentially. But experts believe that bird flu in upper respiratory tract is treatable.
According to World Health Organization figures 131 humans have so far fallen a victim to H5N1 virus. Although most deaths have occurred in Asia, the majority of them reported this year have occurred in Indonesia.
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