# 606
Trying to interpret news reports machine translated from Bahasa (Javanese) to English can be extraordinarily difficult. Newshounds rely on translation software, and while it's very good, it can have difficulties with certain words and phrases.
Frequently, genders are mixed up, and some words simply come through untranslated. Often, nuances are lost, and the gist of the article is about all we can discern.
Still, it's the only game in town.
Today, an article appeared in the Mojokerto Radar. Mojokerto is a district in the province of East Java, Indonesia. The article is mainly concerned with a pre-schooler who has been admitted to RSUD Dr Soetomo Surabaya (Hospital) under suspicion of having bird flu.
About halfway through the translation (which I will spare my readers), mention of 4 HCW's who are hospitalized is made.
I've bolded the pertinent parts. Whether it is accurate, and what it all means . . . well, that's open to interpretation.
A hat tip to pugmom on the wiki for finding this article.
The Mojokerto RADAR on Friday, March 30 2007
On Friday, March 30 2007
pre-schoolers was suspected by Suspect AI
The paramedic the Community Health Centre Jetis was reconciled to RSUD Dr Soetomo
Mojokerto - A age pre-schooler around four years, Bs, villagers Watessumpak, the Trowulan Subdistrict, could be suspected tertular the virus Avian influenza (AI).
<snip>
The previous day, explained Noer, the team of the health from the Jetis Community Health Centre that gave first help to Wetono Hadi, the bird flu sufferer from the Sidogede Village, the Perning Village, the Jetis Subdistrict, Mojokerto, was also carried to RSUD Dr Soetomo Surabaya.
This after the physical condition to four officials of the health from this Jetis Community Health Centre descended and trombosit him descended drastic.
They consisted of the Er village midwife 35, the nurse Su 50, Dr Ba 26 and Dr Ju 44.
"Like that arrive in there, evidently his condition ok, so possibly was affected and startled to see the Wetono condition that afterwards died," stated Noer.
This concern after results of his laboratory test showed trombosit that descended.
From this article we learn that 4 HCW's (Health Care Workers) who attended Wetono Hadi, who recently died of the H5N1 infection, have been admitted to RSUD Dr. Soetomo Surbaya Hospital.
As to their condition, all we know is it has descended (worsened), and it sounds like (but I can't be sure) that they are showing signs of thrombocytopenia. A reduction in platelets.
As you can see, the translation isn't clear. Is the thrombosit reference to Wetono Hadi? Or to the 4 HCW's?
Thrombocytopenia is a commonly seen sign in H5N1 infections, along with leukopenia (low white cell count). But thrombocytopenia is also a hallmark of Dengue Fever, along with other diseases.
This is how we get our information. In drips and drabs, often from obscure newspaper articles, buried deep in the Internet. Were it not for dozens of Internet newshounds scouring hundreds of news sources each day, we'd hear very little about what is going on in places like Indonesia .
News sources tend to dry up over the weekend, unless something extraordinary is going on. So it may be several days before we learn exactly what is going on here.
As far as the doctor being treated as a bird flu suspect, the newswires have, in the past hour, picked up the story. This report filed under Breaking News, by The Australian.
Doctor treated for suspected bird flu
- From correspondents in Jakarta
- March 30, 2007
A DOCTOR who had been treating a 15-year-old boy who died from bird flu is being treated in an isolation ward after developing symptoms of the disease, a hospital official said on Friday.
The doctor had treated the boy, from Indramayu in West Java, at a hospital in Bandung. The boy died on March 25 from the H5N1 virus, the official said.
"He is in an isolation room, doing fine. He has been suffering from a sore throat, fever and some respiratory problems. However, he wore a complete protection suit when dealing with a bird flu patient last week," Doctor Yusuf Hadi, the head of the bird flu department at Hasan Sadikin hospital in Bandung, said by telephone.
"Two or three days after having contact with the boy, he suffered from fever. But now, he is OK, he does not have fever anymore. He has been treated as a bird flu suspect together with a woman and two children."
Test results for the four were pending.
And the beat goes on.
