New bird flu deaths in Indonesia, new outbreaks in Korea
Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Two more deaths from the bird flu have been confirmed in Indonesia. More outbreaks are reported in South Korea despite the government’s action.
In Garut Regency, some 80 kilometres from the West Java’s provincial capital of Bandung, a local health official, Dr Yudi Prayudha, confirmed that a 20-year-old woman died from the bird flu. He explained the woman was taken to Slamet Hospital a few days ago in serious conditions suffering for over a week from “pneumonia, high fever and cough.”
A local veterinary official, Nan M. Adnan, denied reports that the woman had been infected through human contact, but confirmed that she had come into contact with diseased poultry.
A few hours later a nine-year-old boy also died at the same hospital.
In the past month three other people were hospitalised with the bird flu. One of them, Dase Suhender, 30, was released last week.
“Provincial authorities must follow Jakarta’s lead and keep poultry away from people,” said I. Nyoman Kandun, director general of communicable diseases at the Health Ministry.
The government has banned domestic hen-houses, but enforcing the ban is very difficult. Not only is poultry an important source of food and income for many Indonesians, but many people raise cocks for fighting.
South Korea. On Saturday, provincial authorities in Kyonggi confirmed that the death of fowl near a poultry farm was due to the H5N1 virus. They now plan to cull some 300,000 birds within a three-kilometre radius of the outbreak. Some 7,000 pigs and cattle within a 500-metre radius of the farm will also be killed. About 30,000 eggs from the farm which were sent to Seoul will be destroyed. Furthermore, birds and eggs from other local farms at three to ten kilometres from the infected farm cannot be sold.
The farm in question is about 24 kilometres from another farm in Chonan, South Chungchong province, that saw an outbreak on January 20, and some 60 kilometres from Asan where the virus showed up in December.
Local officials believe migratory birds living along the Ansong River carried the bird. However, UN coordinator for avian and human flu David Nabarro said last Friday that the recent outbreaks “have more to do with trade in live birds than [. . .] with the movement of the virus through wild birds.”
The latest is the sixth case since the first outbreak in Iksan, North Cholla province. There were previous outbreaks in Kyonggi province in December 2003 and in March 2004, but nothing since then.
Pakistan. Last Saturday an outbreak in poultry was confirmed in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.
Hong Kong. Two birds found dead in the Territory’s Mongkok district were infected. A local bird garden was placed under surveillance but “nothing abnormal” was detected.
Turkey. The authorities confirmed an outbreak of bird flu in the impoverished Batman province and reported that a fourth child with flu-like symptoms was taken to hospital for observation. (MH-TKH)
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