# 1165
For the past several days all eyes have been on North Sumatra where 7 people were being tested for H5N1. We now have word that 5 of these 7 people have been cleared by testing.
What we don't know is the fate of 2 others. Hopefully, they too will test negative.
But for now authorities aren't talking about their test results.
Tests clear 5 bird flu suspects in Indonesia
JAKARTA (AFP) - Two tests on five people from Indonesia's North Sumatra, feared to be a new cluster of human bird flu, have cleared them of carrying the virus, a health ministry official said Wednesday.
"Their test results were all negative," said an official on duty at the health ministry's Bird Flu Information Center, who only identified himself as Momo.
Two tests, usually of samples of blood and tissue, must come back positive for the virus before a victim is confirmed as infected in Indonesia, where the death toll of 87 from avian influenza is the highest in the world.
However, the official could not say why the results of two other suspects were unavailable or when they would be available.
The seven people, including a pregnant woman and a three-year-old child, came from the same village of Telaga Tujuh, in North Sumatra.
They were admitted to a referral hospital in the provincial capital Medan on Saturday, with symptoms similar to those caused by the deadly H5N1 virus strain of the avian flu.
Sinar Ginting, the hospital spokesman, said information from the local animal husbandry office said many chickens had recently died in their neighbourhood and that some had tested positive for bird flu.
