# 2446
For the second time this week the print media in Indonesia are running stories of a suspected fatality due to the H5N1 bird flu virus.
This time, a 15 year-old girl from Semarang.
Friday, November 7, 2008 8:21 PM
Bird flu suspect dies in Semarang
The Jakarta Post | Fri, 11/07/2008 5:16 PM | National
A teenager suspected of suffering from bird flu died on Friday after being hospitalized for four days at the Kariadi public hospital, Semarang, Central Java.
The 15-year old local Semarang girl has been identified as D.S.
A physician attending D.S., Agus Suryanto, said that the cause of death was a respiratory failure after suffering from fever exceeding 39 Celsius degree."There was a chance that she got infected by bird flu as she had been living nearby a chicken abattoir,” Agus said as quoted by kompas.com.
He said that the hospital had taken and diagnosed a blood sample from the patient but had yet to know the result of the test. (enw)
The 32-year-old that died on Monday, also suspected of H5N1 infection, has been cleared by tests according to the hospital.
Hospital Announces Bird Flu Tests Were Negative
Friday, 07 November, 2008 | 04:43 WIBTEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Hasan Sadikin Hospital in West Java announced on Thursday that a Bandung resident suspectedly died of avian influenza, died of pneumonia. Dadan Hardiansyah, 32, a resident of Jl Inhoftank Bandung according to the hospital did not contract the virus as pointed by the results of tests by the Health Ministry, Eijkman Institute, and the hospital. “All of the results were negative” Head of Hasan Sadikin Hospital Cissy Kartasasmita said.
It isn't clear, given the climate of non-disclosure that Health Minister Supari has publicly advocated, just how much latitude local hospitals have in disclosing test results.
The stated policy is that the Health Ministry will release `every few months' the cumulative number of bird flu fatalities, and will no longer announce them on a case-by-case basis.
And so we are left with a reasonable level of doubt when it comes to this sudden drop in human cases in Indonesia. It comes, after all, only after the government announced new restrictions in what they would report.
Of course it is possible that Indonesia has made tremendous strides in controlling the H5N1 virus, and that human infections really are less common now.
That's the problem with a lack of transparency.
Even good news becomes suspect.
