# 5005
Considering the time of year, bird flu related reports out of Indonesia the past few months are running unusually high.
Whether this is due to more aggressive local reporting, a less restrictive information environment under Indonesia’s new Minister of Health, or represents an actual increase in bird flu activity is hard to gauge.
In any event, the good news is that while a fair number of people have been hospitalized over the past month under suspicion of bird flu infection – none have been reported to have tested positive for the virus.
The last two confirmed H5N1 infections of we are aware of occurred in August and early September (see Indonesian MOH Confirms 2 Bird Flu Fatalities).
Last night Sharon Sanders, Editor of FluTrackers started a thread on 3 Indonesian children hospitalized in Bandar Lampung, suspected of bird flu.
We’ve a couple of local media reports overnight, machine translated, courtesy of Pathfinder and dbg (the 2nd one by dbg also appears on the Flu Wiki Indonesian Thread).
Both indicate that 3 children (initials T (8 ), D (9), and N (5)), who were exposed to bird-flu-positive sick chickens, have been in isolation for several days at the (RSUDAM) hospital in Bandar Lampung.
They have been receiving antibiotics and Tamiflu, and according to the latest reports, are showing improvement.
While suspected of having H5N1, laboratory confirmation has not been made, and there are quite a number of other viral illnesses (including seasonal influenza) that could produce similar symptoms.
Given the dismal 83% fatality rate among known bird flu infections in Indonesia, one can’t help but be a little reassured anytime you see patients starting to recover.
Isolation RSUDAM 3 AI Suspect Patients
Saturday, October 23, 2010 | 20:59 pmBandar Lampung, Tribune - Regional General Hospital Abdul Moeloek (RSUDAM) re-treat the patient suspect bird flu or avian influenza (AI), Friday (22/10). All three initials T (8), D (9), and N (5), a resident of District Kemiling, Bandar Lampung.
According to the chairman of President Hermansyah RSUDAM Dr. Zaini, the trio began hospitalized since Thursday night (21/10), and immediately underwent the intensive maintenance in isolation space handling of bird flu disease.
"All three have the characteristics of pain should bird flu patients, such as high fever, cough, and gastrointestinal disturbance," he said when contacted on Friday night.
This next item was posted by Laidback Al, with a hat tip to dbg.
Three Residents Kemiling Suspect Bird Flu
Saturday, October 23 2010 | 06:11 WIB
Bandar Lampung – Regional Public Hospital Dr. Hi. Abdul Moeloek (RSUDAM) treated three patients suspect bird flu (avian influenza/AI). The three of them were Febiana (8 ), Dina (5), and Zaki (6), the resident of Bukit Kemiling Permai Housing (BKP), Kemiling, Banda Lampung.
They were reconciled to the hospital after experiencing the sign like the illness sufferer who was caused by the virus H5N1 that. Among them the high fever, the cough, and pilek. Moreover, the death of the sudden poultry in their area happened.
Rendi (20), the older sibling Febiana and Zaki, said, Febiana and Dina experienced the high fever, the cough, and pilek since last Sunday (17/10). After two days, the same sign was experienced by Zaki.
It will likely take several days before the results of testing are known.
Meanwhile, in other areas of Indonesia, poultry deaths continue to be reported and local officials are urging residents to be vigilant in taking precautions regarding bird flu.
