Epidemic Hazard - Indonesia

GLIDE CODE: EP-2006-08-30-7406-IDN
Date & Time: 2006-08-30 09:34:34 [UTC]
Area: Indonesia West Java, Jakarta Raya, Jakarta ( MAP)

Description:

Two more people from a bird flu-hit area in Indonesia's West Java have been admitted to hospital on suspicion of contracting avian influenza, health officials said. The first patient, 17-year-old Asep Ridwan, was taken on Tuesday to hospital in Garut, West Java, from the hamlet of Ranca Salak in the subdistrict of Cikelet where three people have already been infected by bird flu, said Iman Firmanullah. Birds in Ranca Salak tested positive of the H5N1 strain of the disease but no information was obtained whether Ridwan had been in contact with them, said Firmanullah, who heads the contagious disease section at Garut's health office. The Garut general hospital overnight received a 39-year-old man from the nearby hamlet of Cigadog who showed symptoms of bird flu, said Firmanullah. Three other people from Cikelet are also suspected of having been killed by the disease. The district animal husbandry office has culled a total of 4,697 birds, including chicken, ducks, geese a! nd doves in the six villages in Cikelet in the past days, said Dida Kardiana, an official from the office in Garut. He said his office was awaiting for further instructions from the central government before carrying out more culling in Cikelet. Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, has 60 confirmed cases of infection so far, 46 of them fatal, the highest number in the world. While the H5N1 virus that causes bird flu does not spread easily among people, the chance of a mutation occurring which will allow it to do so is heightened as more humans catch it from infected birds. Scientists fear that if this occurs, a global flu pandemic with a massive death toll could result.

Damage level: Moderate