# 4985
I sleep much better these days knowing that stalwarts like Dutchy and Chen Qi in the Netherlands, Arkanoid Legent in Malaysia, and Ida at BFIC are minding the store while I slumber.
As Crof points out in his insightful overnight blog Metablogging Flublogia, we are highly dependent upon their (other newshound’s) efforts.
And a prime example comes this morning from Arkanoid Legent and Ida at BFIC , who have both found, translated, and posted an update from the Indonesian Ministry of Health on two (relatively) recent bird flu fatalities.
Indonesia : Bird Flu case report until September 2010
This is an official press release from Indonesia's Ministry of Health, reports 2 confirmed human bird flu cases, both of whom has died :
(Continue to translation . . . )
Indonesia ::: Indonesia announces two bird flu cases
Posted by Ida on October 16, 2010
One of these cases MM (M, 35 years) from West Jakarta, stems from late August and the other - LH (P, 40 years) from Depok West Java, occurred in early September.
Interestingly, this MOH statement doesn't contain the near-obligatory `patient had contact with dead or dying poultry’ disclaimer. In fact, there is no mention of a suspected route of infection at all.
It is possible that the WHO report which usually lags behind the MOH release by a few days, will contain more details.
Indonesia’s Health Ministry decided several years ago that constantly talking about their H5N1 problem was bad for the country’s image (see Indonesia To Stop Announcing Bird Flu Deaths).
The MOH now only releases information at irregular intervals. In 2009, we went more than 10 months between updates.
In what may be a hopeful sign, this year, the MOH has been slightly more accommodating. We’ve seen official updates in February, May, July, and now October.
Whether the numbers we get from these reports truly reflect the burden of human bird flu infections in that country is another matter.
Surveillance and reporting are likely sub-optimal, particularly from some of the more remote regions of that archipelago nation where even basic medical care can be absent or difficult to obtain.
Testing for the virus has always been problematic, especially after Tamiflu has been administered, and has sometimes only been detectable during autopsy.
Despite these limitations to surveillance, the number of human infections around the world obviously remains quite low.
The virus remains poorly adapted to human physiology, and despite ample opportunities in places like Egypt and Indonesia, only causes rare, sporadic infections.
The concern, of course, is that over time that may change. And so the world remains at Pre-pandemic Phase III on the H5N1 virus, and we continue to watch for signs that the virus is adapting to humans.
