# 4205
For readers who may not have followed bird flu outbreaks and reports of human infections in the past, the next few months may seem like a bit of a roller coaster ride. January through April is traditionally the height of the bird flu season, and reports often come in a staccato fashion.
Some of these reports will turn out not to be H5N1, while others may simply never be officially verified by their host countries. Reporting and surveillance still leaves much to be desired, and there are political elements involved as well.
Today we’ve a series of reports out of Indonesia, including a report of two neighbor children in Riau suspected of having the H5N1 virus. These reports come via the considerable efforts of Ida at The Bird Flu Information Corner.
Pekanbaru, Riau ::: Two babies suspected of having bird flu
January 29, 2010Pekanbaru – Arifin Achmad regional hospital in Pekanbaru received two more bird flu (H5N1) suspect patients from Kabupaten Indragiri Hulu, Riau Province.
Those patients were AN, six months old, and YL, three years and six months old. They both referred to Arifin Achmad hospital on Thursday afternoon and evening.
Both patients were neighbors, resided in Kecamatan Kelayang, Indragiri Hulu. They had contact history with dead chickens.
Patients are now under intensive treatment.
This article goes on to relate some details of two other bird flu cases that Arifin Achmad hospital has treated in the past month. One recovered, while the other died.
Two more reports from BFIC include:
Purbalingga, Central Java ::: Thousands of layer chicken positively die of bird flu infection
January 29, 2010Purbalingga – Avian Influenza (AI) or bird flu killed thousands of layer chickens in Desa Tegalpingen and Tumanggal, Kecamatan Pengadegan, Purbalingga, Central Java. It had been two weeks where people were found to burying and burning bird flu infected birds.
Total number of culled chickens within these 2 weeks had reached 5,500 layer chickens within the productive age, 16-18 months. “Each day I burn about 50-60 dead layer chickens,” admitted a local of Desa Tegalpingen who had lost about 500 chickens within these couple of weeks.
Depopulation was done by burning the dead chicken to prevent possible transmission to other farms because Pengadegan is one of layer chicken central.
Indramayu, West Java ::: Bird flu attacks chickens and birds
January 29, 2010Indramayu – Hundreds of chicken and birds suddenly died in Desa Pasekan and Brondong, Kecamatan Pasekan, Kabupaten Indramayu. Died chickens showed discharge from nose and bluish carcass. One of the farmers testified that he found his chickens had died in the morning whereas they appeared healthy on the previous day.
Officials have done control measures by burying dead chickens and spraying disinfection to chicken’s houses.
Meanwhile on FluTrackers, Shiloh and Dutchy (about as good a newshound tag-team as exists anywhere) have picked up on an article from Poskota, a Jakarta based newspaper, that warns of the dangers of buying or illegally transporting `uncertified’ chickens which may harbor the H5N1 virus.
In a bit of a cautionary tale, the bottom of the story carries a description of a suspected H5N1 death in Jakarta on the 26th of January, supposedly after the victim bought and slaughtered uncertified chickens.
This is an excellent example of how the newshounds work together and build on each other’s contributions. For the full translation of the entire article, and analysis, you can visit the FluTrackers thread HERE.
