#1040
According to this report from Antara, this girl "had been suffering from high fever and respiratory problems since June 16, when a number of chickens in their neighborhood died."
Assuming this report is correct, this patient has been ill for more than 6 weeks, a remarkably long time for someone with H5N1 to survive without medical treatment. Tests are pending.
08/03/07 13:56
Girl in Sukabumi hospitalized with bird flu-like symptoms
Sukabumi, West Java (ANTARA News) - A young girl, identified as Ririn Meilani (12), has been admitted to Syamsudin General Hospital here as a suspected bird flu (Avian Influenza) sufferer as a number of chickens in her neighborhood had suddenly died for unknown reasons.
Soon after she was hospitalized on Thursday evening, paramaedics took samples of her blood for laboratory tests.
Ujang Suhendi, the girl`s father, said his daughter had been suffering from high fever and respiratory problems since June 16, when a number of chickens in their neighborhood died.
Ririn had had contact with one of the dead chickens, he said. She is currently being treated at the hospital`s emergency care unit, he said.
Around 75 percent of the chicken population in the area where Ujang lived had died by mysterious causes.
On August 1, the local husbandry and animal health offices sent a team to check on all poultry in the area. But until Friday local residents were still uninformed about the results of the team`s work.
Syamsudin General Hospital Director Dr Suherman said there were indications Ririn was infected with the bird flu virus. However, to obtain confirmation of the suspicion samples of her blood would be sent to the Health Development and Research Agency in Jakarta for more conclusive laboratory tests.
A report of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said recently around 60 percent of all Indonesian households keep an estimated 300 million birds in their backyards.
To date, 319 people from a dozen countries have been infected with the virus. Of them 191 have died, including about 80 fatalities in Indonesia alone. Nearly all of them were believed to have been infected through contact with poultry. But experts fear the virus could eventually mutate into a type that can be transferred from human to human. (*)
