# 2148
Last Sunday our intrepid Internet newshounds unearthed local Indonesian media reports of a bird flu fatality in Banten.
The reports, originally in the Bahasan language, were translated into English and posted on many of the flu forums. Here is a snippet of the translation I posted on Sunday.
(Hat Tips to Dutchy and Ironorehopper on Flutrackers)
The resident Banten Positive Terjangkit Burung Flu
Tangerang, CyberNews.
A resident Belendung, Kecamatan Benda, of Kota Tangerang, Banten, the USA (37) that died last July 10 was stated positive terjangkit the virus of kind bird flu H5N1.
The victim's intials listed are given as USA, but that is actually a machine translation error. The intials are really A.S., which just happens to be how the United States is abbreviated in Indonesia.
Here is how the AP is reporting the story today.
Indonesian man dies of bird flu
By IRWAN FIRDAUS, Associated Press Writer
BELENDUNG, Indonesia - An Indonesian cargo worker died of bird flu, relatives confirmed Thursday, raising the unofficial toll in the world's hardest hit nation to 111 in three years.
The government recently started delaying announcements about bird flu fatalities, sometimes by several weeks. But health workers speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed the tests came back positive.
Asnawi Sandri, a 38-year-old father of two, died in the hospital on July 10, days after he came down with symptoms of the disease, including high fever, coughing and breathing difficulties, said Abdul Kadir, his brother-in-law.
"The doctor told us he died of bird flu," he said. "The tests came back positive from Jakarta."
<snip>
Asked whether she could confirm Sandri's cause of death, Health Ministry spokeswoman Lily Sulistyowati said: "I can't say now whether the tests were positive or negative ... but we'll let the public know when we release our report at the end of the month."
A member of the national bird flu commission, however, confirmed that the cargo worker died of bird flu, a local health worker said told The Associated Press. He asked not to be named because he did not have authorization to speak to the media.
Kudos to the AP reporter who obviously was not content to wait for the Indonesian government to dole out information on their arbitrary schedule.
This kind of aggressive reporting is good to see.
