# 5692
Poultry infections from the H5N1 bird flu virus in Indonesia are so common that they rarely rate notice outside of their local press.
But, as Ida from BFIC tells us in a translation this morning of an article from the Indonesia newspaper, Tempo Interaktif, 10 regions of South Sulawesi are dealing with an unusually large die off of poultry, even by Indonesian standards.
More than 100,000 birds have died in the past couple of weeks amid reports of vaccine and disinfectant shortages.
This is an event that the newshounds on FluTrackers have been following for more than a week, and you can read additional news items on this thread.
This report is from this morning’s Bird Flu Information Corner – a joint project between Japan’s Kobe University and the Institute of Tropical Disease, Airlangga University, Indonesia.
Maros, South Sulawesi ::: Bird flu widespreads in 10 regions
Posted by Ida on July 14, 2011
Maros – Veterinary Disease Investigation Center, General Directorate of Livestock in Maros reported ten regions in South Sulawesi tested positive bird flu H5N1 infection according to the research conducted from January to July 2011, said spokesman of Veterinary Disease Investigation Center in Maros, Affendi.
Of 2,404 birds tested, over 100 of them were positive bird flu H5N1. The samples came from Kabupaten (municipality) Bantaeng, Takalar, Makassar, Palopo, Pinrang and Maros. The virus had also been found in Kabupaten Konawe, Southeast Sulawesi.
It is unclear whether the virus has spread to Sidenreng Rappang (Sidrap), Parepare, Gowa and Enrekang, said Affendi, as the laboratory has not examined the samples of dead chickens recently occurred in those areas. Officers in field have got rid of the dead poultries, but until now they have not sent the samples to Maros laboratory.
Previously, the head of Livestock Service in South Sulawesi, Murtala Ali, said bird flu H5N1 has spread in Sidrap, Parepare, Enrekang, Gowa and Pinrang. Bird flu in Sidrap has affected 11 sub-districts resulting 109.909 chickens death (72,909 layers, 29,200 broilers and 7,032 native/backyard chickens).
Earlier this year (see Bird Flu: Confusing Reports Out Of Indonesia) Antara news reported that local authorities in Cirebon district, West Java only had enough vaccine to inoculate 7% of the district’s poultry.
It remains to be seen whether this Sulawesi outbreak is due to lax or inadequate vaccination of local poultry stocks, or if it is due – as has recently been reported in Vietnam – to the introduction of a vaccine resistant strain to the region.
