Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Indonesia Reports New Bird Flu Fatality

 

# 1932

 

 

The month of April has been a relatively quiet one in Indonesia on the bird flu front.   The last news of human infections we received was summarized on April 2nd by this WHO Summary

 

 

The Ministry of Health of Indonesia has announced three new cases of human H5N1 avian influenza infection. The cases are not linked epidemiologically. The first is a 15-year-old male student from Subang District, West Java Province who developed symptoms on 19 March, was hospitalized on 22 March and died on 26 March .

 

The second case is an 11-year-old female student from Bekasi City, West Java Province who developed symptoms on 19 March, was hospitalized on 23 March and died on 28 March.

 

The third case is a 21-month-old female from Bukit Tinggi, West Sumatra Province who developed symptoms on 17 March, and was hospitalized on 22 March. She is presently recovering in hospital.

 

The source of infection for all three cases is still under investigation.

 

Of the 132 cases confirmed to date in Indonesia, 107 have been fatal.

 

Since then we've heard virtually nothing out of Indonesia about bird flu other than the reports on the Bali pandemic exercise.    

 

Today we get word that a 3-year-old boy died on April 23rd, and that he has tested positive for the H5N1 virus.  

 

The article below inaccurately describes this as Indonesia's 108th confirm human case.  It is not.  This is the 108th confirmed fatality.

 

This should make the 133rd confirmed human case.

 

 

 

 

April 29, 2008

Indon boy dies of bird flu

JAKARTA - A THREE-YEAR-OLD boy from Indonesia's main island of Java has died from bird flu, pushing the country's total confirmed human cases to 108, a health ministry official said on Tuesday.

 

Lily Sulistyowati, the ministry's spokeswoman, said in a statement that the boy from Manyaran village, Central Java, died on April 23 after suffering from respiratory problems.

 

Several chickens had suddenly died in the neighbourhood where the boy lived, Sulistyowati said, adding the boy had had contact with the birds.