Mayor orders chicken cull in Makassar following bird flu outbreak

Antara 12 Mar 08;

Makassar, South Sulawesi (ANTARA News) - Makassar Mayor Ilham Arief Sirajuddin has ordered the culling of poultry living within a radius of one kilometer from a bird flu outbreak at the cisity`s IDI complex in Antang.

"This is to follow up on the discovery of bird flu infection in the area last week," Mayor Sirajuddin said here on Wednesday.

The culling was needed to curb the bird flu outbreak following the sudden deaths of tens of chickens in the Antang area, Makassar, last week. A Makassar resident was also believed to have been infected with the H5N1 avian influenza (AI) virus.

The patient, identified as Ririn (12 years old), is currently being treated intensively at Wahidin Sudirohusodo Regional Public Hospital, Makassar.

"We have received a patient who has symptoms of bird flu. However, we cannot yet confirm it yet because we need to examine samples of her blood first," Dr Kadir, medical director of Wahidin Hospital, said.

Two to three days were needed to get the results of laboratory tests on the patient`s blood sample, he said.

According to data of the Indonesian Health Ministry recently, AI has so far infected a total of 129 people in Indonesia of whom 105 have died. Indonesia`s AI mortality rate is the highest in the world. (*)