# 5277
The past couple of months our bird flu focus has been primarily on Japan, Korea, and Egypt, and rightfully so.
Egypt has reported a half dozen human infections with the H5N1 virus, and both Japan and Korea are combating a major resurgence of the virus among wild birds and commercial poultry operations.
But the lack of news out of Indonesia hasn’t meant that bird flu activity had ceased there. Only that nothing out of the ordinary has been happening.
And for Indonesia, that means practically daily outbreaks of bird flu have occur among poultry somewhere in the country, and occasional suspect human cases have been hospitalized.
Since Indonesia doesn’t go out of their way to announce positive H5N1 tests, we honestly don’t know whether any of those cases tested positive.
While I don’t try to blog every bird flu report, we have the newshounds on the flu forums, and bloggers like Arkanoid Legent, Chen Qi, Ida at BFIC, and Crof who manage to keep remarkably good tabs on these sorts of news stories.
In recent days, the number of bird flu stories out of Indonesia have increased, and so a roundup this morning seems appropriate.
From Ida at the Bird Flu Information Corner, a couple of recent items:
Kerinci, Jambi ::: Thousands of chickens die of bird flu
Posted by Ida on February 2, 2011
Jambi – Jambi provincial government announced bird flu/avian influenza H5N1 alert. So far, bird flu outbreak has spread to six villages and killed thousands of chickens.
Livestock Service spokesman of Kabupaten Kerinci, Ariyan, said they stated bird flu alert because the disease had been rapidly spreading within six villages in Kecamatan Sitinjaulaut,; Desa Sebukar, Semerah, Pedung Tengah, Tanjung Mudo, Seleman and Koto Baru Hiang.
Samarinda, East Kalimantan ::: A child is suspected of contracting bird flu
Posted by Ida on February 1, 2011
Samarinda – A 5-year-old, with initial AF, is suspected of contracting bird flu H5N1 and now being treated in isolation unit of Abdul Wahab Syachranie hospital. The child is a resident of Sungai Pinang Luar, Samarinda, East Kalimantan.
“Patient is being isolated according to procedure of bird flu H5N1 suspect patient,” said dr Nurliana Adriati Noor in the isolation unit of Abdul Wahab Syachranie hospital.
In addition, from Arkanoid Legent yesterday, we get:
Indonesia : 25 Chicken Bird Flu Positive in Palembang
Translated article from Tribun News :
" Palembang residents dihebohkan with the death of 25 chickens owned by residents Emil Palembang Jalan Diponegoro suddenly a few days ago. Most of the chickens were purchased Emil from the Bird Market, located in the region 17 Ilir Palembang.
"According to Emil, most of the chickens he bought from the Bird Market in Palembang," said Head of the Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry (DP2K) Palembang, Sudirman Tegoeh, Monday (01/31/2011).
And similarly, Chen Qi has this report from Xinhua News.
Bird flu outbreak hits Indonesia's Jambi
JAKARTA, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Bird flu (H5N1) outbreak has attacked Indonesia's Jambi province, triggering death of thousands of chicken in Kerinci regency, Kompas.com online news reported on Wednesday.
Secretary of Animal Husbandry Division of Kerinci regency, Igor, said that at least 4,164 chickens were killed due to the disease.
Overnight, the Jakarta Post carried this story:
Avian flu reappears in South Sumatra
Khairul Saleh, The Jakarta Post, Palembang | Wed, 02/02/2011
Avian flu outbreaks in Prabumulih and Palembang in South Sumatra have prompted the municipalities’ governments to call for a mass culling of animals infected or suspected to have been infected by the H5N1 virus.
The Prabumulih administration issued an alert after avian flu cases were recorded in eight subdistricts of the municipality.
The outbreak came as a shock after many thought the disease had been successfully curbed over the last several years.
This is, of course, the time of year when bird flu reports tend to escalate.
Normally, countries are required to submit regular reports to the OIE on new bird flu outbreaks, and follow-up reports when appropriate.
However, once the disease becomes endemic in poultry – as it has in Indonesia and Egypt – reports on individual outbreaks are no longer required. So the actual number of outbreaks in Indonesia isn’t really known.
Indonesia’s last OIE report was in September of 2006.
For now, H5N1 is primarily a threat to poultry, and to a far lesser extent, people who are in close contact with infected birds.
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.
