The medical team did not yet confirm the four
inpatients of one family were positive bird flu.-
Liputan 6 TV
# 365
While the news has been a bit slow coming out of Indonesia the past 48 hours, there have been a few stories of note. Weekends are notoriously slow, but hopefully the lack of news is a good sign. We will know more come Monday.
The first story involves the use of military forces to combat the bird flu threat in Indonesia. Details as to exactly what role they will play are missing from this report, from the Sydney Morning Herald, but it does indicate some form of escalation in their fight against the threat.
Indonesia asks troops to fight bird flu (excerpt)
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered the military chief to deploy soldiers to help fight the disease, Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi told reporters.
"He called on governors, regents, mayors to be more active in leading efforts to fight bird flu in affected areas," Silalahi said after ministers held talks with Yudhoyono.
The sense of alarm was highlighted by the country's welfare minister earlier in the day.
"Even though our continued effort is giving some significant progress, we are still on highest alert," Aburizal Bakrie, said at a ceremony to receive 100,000 sets of protective equipment donated by the United States.
Indonesia has the highest bird flu death toll and is stepping up efforts to stamp out the disease after a flare up in cases this year.
"Indonesia is very serious in addressing this threat," Bakrie said a day after a six year-old girl died - Indonesia's 63rd victim of the disease that has killed 164 people globally since 2003.
The attempts to cull backyard poultry continue, despite resistance from private individuals and some regional governments. This from the Jakarta Post.
Jakarta's 10 subdistricts resume poultry slaughter
JAKARTA (Antara): Some 65 administration units in 10 sub-districts in South Jakarta have resumed the culling of poultry to avoid the spread of H5N1 virus which is responsible for deadly bird flu, an official said.
The move was part of the proposed mass culling of 10,000 fowls some of which were slaughtered last week, head of the South Jakarta municipality's husbandry and fisheries office Edi Santoso said Sunday.
"I don't know the exact number of fowls which have already been slaughtered but I have sent all the officers to 10 subdistricts for the mass culling," he said.
The 10 subdistricts are Pasar Minggu, Tebet, Mampang, Pesanggrahan, Pancoran, Kebayoran Lama, Jaga Karsa, Setiabudi, Cilandak and Kebayoran Baru.
Despite the mass culling, the South Jakarta municipality will push through with its plan to make sweep operations against poultry in the administration units on Feb. 1, he said.
"We want all fowls in South Jakarta culled as of Jan. 31," he said.
And new suspected cases continue to filter into hospitals. Keeping track of them is becoming more difficult, as names are sometimes omitted in news accounts. There is a stigma attached to being linked to `flu burung’, and we are seeing reluctance to release patient information to the press in recent days.
The local media seems to be focusing on a family of 4, all admitted to the hospital, and are using the `cluster’ word this morning. Tests are pending, and so it may be premature to assume anything. This from Liputan 6 TV.
Liputan6.com, Jambi: the family's four members who were expected terjangkit bird flu was treated in the Radan Mataher Hospital, Jambi.
However, until Ahad (28/1), the medical team still could not confirm the four of them positive bird flu.
Because the example of their blood was just sent to the Department of the Health two days set.
Before being brought to the hospital, they were known by direct contact with belasan the chicken died that later was known tertular bird flu.
If the four patients were positive significant bird flu increased the number of cases of bird flu in one family or cluster.
The family felt the family objected when their family's member it was suspected contracted the deadly virus.
The number of suspected cases of human H5N1 infection in Indonesia this month is now approaching 200, with 70 of those reportedly testing negative, 113 awaiting tests, and only 7 confirmed cases.
While we continue to see scattered cases pop up, so far we’ve not seen any exponential growth in cases, suspected or confirmed. Testing, and ruling out or confirming cases, appears to be backlogged; so there is some ambiguity as to the situation on the ground there.
