INDONESIA/PHILIPPPINES: World Health Organisation says Indonesia bird flu cases most significant developement in illness so far
Record ID:
649470
INDONESIA/PHILIPPPINES: World Health Organisation says Indonesia bird flu cases most significant developement in illness so far
- Title: INDONESIA/PHILIPPPINES: World Health Organisation says Indonesia bird flu cases most significant developement in illness so far
- Date: 24th May 2006
- Summary: JAKARTA, INDONESIA (MAY 24, 2006) (REUTERS) STALLS INSIDE MARKET VARIOUS POULTRY MEAT ON DISPLAY CHICKEN VENDOR ARRANGING DISPLAY (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Indonesia) NGATIAH, CHICKEN VENDOR AT JAKARTA MARKETPLACE, SAYING: "I'm not afraid. I've been selling chickens since 1960 until now. Nothing will happen, I'm not worried a bit." CHICKENS BEING CLEANED VARIOUS OF VENDOR CUTTING WHOLE CHICKEN INTO PIECES
- Embargoed: 8th June 2006 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Indonesia, Philippines
- City:
- Country: Philippines Indonesia
- Topics: Health,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA8B78XIRNJX4AGIE54ZP2HITPF
- Story Text: The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday (May 24) the deaths of six Indonesians from bird flu was the most significant development yet in the spread of the virus, and it was worried about both the size of the cluster and its source.
"What we're looking at in this case in Indonesia is probably the most worrying incidents so far since bird flu started nearly three years ago. We have a very large cluster of seven people, probably eight. We've not seen a cluster that size. And secondly, we have a team down there looking around and we can't find any obvious source of infection, no infected poultry, no infected pigs so we're puzzled. I mean, first of all we're puzzled how did they get sick and secondly, how did this virus affect so many people. And until we find a common source of infection then we have to treat this as potentially human to human transmission," Peter Cordingley, spokesman for the West Pacific region of the WHO, told Reuters.
Cordingley said while initial tests of the outbreak in Indonesia suggested the virus had not mutated into a more lethal form, the country needs to step up its monitoring of domestic poultry and vulnerable people.
"What needs to be done in Indonesia in particular is surveillance has to be improved. We can respond pretty quickly when we see something suspicious going on but we do need to get that information early on. Indonesia is having big problems with surveillance, not just in humans but also infections in poultry," he said.
The WHO says it has sent a team of specialists to investigate the area surrounding the outbreak which took place in Kubu Sembelang village in the Karo District of North Sumatra.
But in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, poultry vendors said they were not worried about the recent bird flu cases.
"I'm not afraid. I've been selling chickens since 1960 until now. Nothing will happen, I'm not worried a bit" said Ngatiah, a chicken vendor.
Seven members of the family from a village in north Sumatra died this month and the WHO and Indonesian health officials are baffled over the source of the H5N1 avian flu virus.
But they say there is no evidence the virus has passed to anyone else outside the initial cluster of up to eight people.
It is the largest family cluster known to date, the WHO has said, and such clusters are looked on with far more suspicion than isolated infections because they raise the possibility the virus might have mutated to transmit efficiently among humans.
Bird flu has killed 124 people in ten countries since it re-emerged in Asia in 2003. It remains essentially a disease in birds and has spread to dozens of countries in wild birds and poultry. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None