# 3000
Riau, Indonesia
While the Ministry of Health has yet to officially confirm any human H5N1 infections for 2009 in Indonesia, unofficially it is widely known that there have been a number of cases and fatalities.
Even the Jakarta Post openly discusses bird flu fatalities that the Health Ministry has yet to announce. One such fatality occurred in late March in Riau, and it involved a young child named Wahyu.
I reported last on this death a little more than a week ago in : Riau Neighborhood Proclaimed (KLB) Exceptional Bird Flu Status.
After the confirmed death of a toddler (Wahyu) last week, and amid reports that some family members are now suffering from fever, authorities have announced that the boy’s neighborhood is now under KLB (Exceptional Status) for bird flu.
KLB in Indonesia basically refers to a heightened public health alert.
Now it seems that after declaring the exceptional status in that Riau neighborhood that multiple reports of infected and dying poultry are coming to light.
Attempts to cull poultry, however, are meeting resistance. This from the Jakarta Post. (Hat tip Dutchy on Flutrackers)
Bird flu virus spreads in Riau after boy's death
Rizal Harahap , The Jakarta Post , Pekanbaru | Sat, 04/11/2009 1:42 PM | The Archipelago
The bird flu virus has spread within Sungai Apit district in Siak regency, Riau, following the death of a child infected with the virus at the end of March, says a local official, adding prevention measures were being hampered by residents' reluctance to cull their poultry.
District chief Indra Atmaja said the spread of the virus was only discovered following reports of poultry dying abruptly on April 4.
"After checking by a team of veterinarians, two of the chickens tested positive for bird flu. A day earlier, we received reports that 12 chickens owned by other residents had died suddenly," Indra told The Jakarta Post by phone on Wednesday.
He added the virus had spread to Teluk Masjid and Teluk Batil villages and Sungai Apit subdistrict.
<snip>
Indra also urged residents to cull their poultry. However, he said only few residents were willing, while most would only do so if paid to.
"It's not that we don't want to, but the district office has no such budget for the purpose. For now, we can only remind the residents, including through sermons at mosques, of the risks of bird flu. We cannot force the residents to cull their poultry if they don't want to," he said.
