Bird flu in Indonesia and India

Suspected bird flu outbreak in northeastern Indian state
Channel NewsAsia 7 Apr 08;

GUWAHATI, India : Authorities were bracing to contain a suspected bird flu outbreak in another Indian state bordering Bangladesh, a senior official said on Sunday.

Health workers in remote Tripura began readying for "preventive measures" including mass slaughter after about 3,000 birds died in the past week, Ashish Roy Burman, director of Tripura's Animal Resources Development Department, said.

"Clinical symptoms indicate it could be bird flu," Burman said by phone adding that the poultry deaths were reported from Kamalpur area, 180 kilometres north of state capital Agartala.

"Blood samples have been sent to be tested and the final reports are expected tomorrow (Monday)," he said, adding that the culling would start as soon as the results were in.

Health workers, meanwhile, were keeping a sharp eye out for people with flu-like symptoms, he added.

India reported a confirmed outbreak of bird flu earlier this year in West Bengal state, which also borders Bangladesh.

West Bengal had briefly contained the outbreak that came to light in January by slaughtering about four million birds but the virus resurfaced last month causing authorities to order a fresh cull.

India, which reported its first outbreak of avian flu in 2006 in western Maharashtra state, has not reported any human infections so far.

Health experts however fear the H5N1 strain could mutate into a form easily transmitted from person to person, leading to a pandemic. - AFP/de

Indonesian teenager dies of suspected bird flu
Channel NewsAsia 6 Apr 07;

JAKARTA - A 16-year-old Indonesian girl has died of suspected bird flu, a doctor said Sunday.

The girl, Sumiarsih, died on Saturday afternoon, three days after being admitted for treatment at the Sulianti Saroso bird flu referral hospital in the Indonesian capital, hospital spokesman Ilham Patu told AFP.

"She showed all the symptoms of bird flu infection such as high fever, coughing and low blood cell count," Patu said.

"But we have not yet received the results of tests of samples taken from her. She remains a suspected bird flu case," Patu said.

Health Minister Spokesperson Lili Sulistiawati confirmed officials were still awaiting the results before confirming the case as a bird flu death.

Two positive results are needed before Indonesian authorities confirm a human infection of bird flu.

The Tempo newspaper quoted the girl's father as saying that officials conducted a check of poultry in their neighbourhood in Sawangan, southeast of Jakarta, and found some were positive for the deadly virus.

Sumiarsih fell sick on Monday and was taken to a private hospital two days later, before being referred to Sulianti Saroso on Thursday.

Indonesia has the world's highest number of human bird flu victims, with 107 known fatal cases, 13 of them this year.

Experts fear the virus, which is usually spread directly from birds to humans, could mutate into a form easily transmissible between people, sparking a deadly global pandemic. - AFP/vm