Note: I’ll be on the road today headed home from my mini-vacation. Depending upon the hour of my arrival, I may not get any updates to this blog until tomorrow.
# 4954
The exact number of people `under observation’ in South Sulawesi in the wake of a large outbreak of H5N1 among local poultry remains hard to determine, but appears in the vicinity of 30 persons.
Most are at home, with (presumably) mild flu-like symptoms, and are being checked on by local public health workers.
At least 4 appear to be hospitalized, although that number is subject to some debate.
Local media, and the newshounds on the flu forums, have been following this story for a full week (see Watching Indonesia Again and Indonesia: 4 Bird Flu Suspects Hospitalized).
Today the Jakarta Post has this brief report (hat tip History Lover on the Flu WIki), and while it doesn’t add much to what we already knew, it has the advantage of not being a machine translation.
Bird flu outbreak revives in S. Sulawesi, 4 hospitalized
The Jakarta Post, Makassar, SouthSulawesi | Fri, 10/01/2010 8:20 AM | The Archipelago
FluTrackers, meanwhile, has added an article (#34) to their extensive thread on this outbreak (h/t dbg) that reports on an island in the region reporting hundreds of fever cases (and 3 deaths), but lacking any health care.
Some residents are openly wondering if this might be bird flu, but no testing has been conducted.
While H5N1 is possible, there are a great many other diseases that are common to this region that could easily produce these same symptoms – including seasonal and H1N1 flu.
In years past, H5N1 has produced extremely severe illness and an 80% fatality rate in Indonesia, so the lack of reported deaths and severe symptoms thus far is – to me, anyway - at least a little reassuring.
It will require the release of laboratory test results before can really know whether any of these case are bird flu.
And for that, we are reliant upon the Indonesian Ministry of Health – an agency that has not always been quick to release bird flu data.
Hopefully this time, with all of the media coverage and speculation, they’ll see the advantages of quick disclosure.
No matter what the result.
