# 317
Flu watchers on the Internet have had a frustrating night, as the website used to translate articles written in the Indonesian language Bahasa (Javanese) to English is down. We are reliant on the less frequent, and often less telling, western news reports for the time being.
These machine translated articles are a mixed blessing. They give us an inside look at the goings on from a local perspective, but they are also very difficult to interpret. Often, the reporting is contradictory, leaving us with more questions than answers.
As far as we can tell, suspected cases continue to trickle into the local hospitals, but I've seen no evidence of any huge numbers.
A number of previously suspected cases are being cleared by testing, and some are being sent home. Others are being moved to non-isolation areas of the hospital. It is unclear exactly what these patients are suffering from, if not bird flu, but this is the regular flu season, and there have been nasty strains of Influenza A and B reported in many areas of the world. Dengue and Malaria are also prevalent in Indonesia, and the symptoms could match.
Another area of confusion, as yet unresolved, is the status of Riyah's husband, once suspected of having Bird Flu. Riyah died last week, and her 18 year-old son has been in critical condition (but is reportedly improving) and tested positive. We've heard reports that he has tested negative repeatedly, and would be sent home. We've also heard reports from other sources that doctors still consider him a `possible' case.
We are seeing more editorial comments charging the Indonesian government with incompetence in dealing with this crisis, a sign of growing frustration in the press.
For now, the crisis in Indonesia doesn't seem to be getting any worse.
As long as the virus remains endemic in the area, however, we can expect to see cases of infection, and each case is another opportunity for the virus to mutate.
It's looking like another long flu watching season ahead.
