Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Indonesia Confirms Two Bird Flu Patients







# 412


Releasing scant details, the Indonesian Health Ministry has confirmed that two patients have tested positive for the H5N1 Bird Flu virus. This from Reuters:


Two more Indonesians have bird flu - ministry

Tue 6 Feb 2007 7:06:46 GMT

JAKARTA, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Two more people in hard hit Indonesia, a 15-year-old girl from an upscale Jakarta neighbourhood and a 30-year-old man in West Java, have caught bird flu, a Health Ministry official said on Tuesday.


The girl, who lives in the capital's Menteng district where many high ranking officials and foreign diplomats reside, had caught a wild bird which died two days later, Joko Suyono of the ministry's bird flu centre said.


The West Java man lived in an area where many poultry had died, he said.


Additionally, local media is reporting that rapid testing done on a 20 year-old man with the initial `A' in Yogyakarta, at RS Sardjito Hospital is positive. This from Media-Indonesia. The ages do not match with the previous report, nor does the location, and so this appears to be a different patient.


Update Yogyakarta - A (20) tests Positive

Senin, 05 Februari 2007 15:33 WIB

One patient suspect bird flu in RS Sardjito Yogyakarta, had the initials A, 20, the resident of the Siyono Village, the Logandeng Village, of the Playen Subdistrict, the Gunungkidul Regency, the Yogyakarta Special District (DIY) positive was infected by the virus Avian influenza (H5N1).


That was based on results rapid the test against dahak that was taken from the patient's throat.


Rapid the test was carried out with the system real time polymerase chain reaction.


Rapid the test was carried out twice to confirm whether that was relevant positive was infected by bird flu.


After twice the test, evidently this Gunungkidul resident was stated positive.


The testing laboratory in Jakarta is reported to be affected by the flooding, although it isn't clear to what extent. Some hospitals have reportedly been unable to send samples, while some media reports indicate the power may be out at the testing facility. In any event, getting test results back is proving difficult.


The situation on the ground there remains chaotic and confused. Media reports, mostly in Bahasa Indonesian, and machine translated into English, are difficult to interpret.


The only thing we know for certain is, new cases are continuing to show up.