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Indonesia scientist says 1/5th of stray cats carry bird flu virus
Monday January 15, 3:54 PM
(Kyodo) - About 100 of 500 stray cats surveyed in Indonesia were carrying the H5N1 bird flu virus, a local scientist said Monday.
C.A. Nidom, who first reported that bird flu had entered Indonesia in 2003 but was ignored by the government, told Kyodo News the finding was based on his research funded by the Ministry of National Education and conducted on Java Island and in Lampung Province of Sumatra Island from September to December last year.
"I will bring the results of my research to the Institute of Medical Science of the University of Tokyo next month for further tests," he said by telephone from Saudi Arabia.
"I'm worried that the virus will be more easily transmitted to humans because the body temperature of mammals like cats is similar to that of humans," he added.
He took blood samples from cats living around wet markets that sell chickens and hospitals designated for bird flu patients in the East Java provincial capital Surabaya, the Central Java provincial capital Semarang, West Java's Bandung, Lampung's Bandarlampung, and Jakarta and its suburb Tangerang.
Nidom, a molecular biology expert at the state-run University of Airlangga, said the results were reported to the Health Ministry, but they have not been published and followed up on.
I Nyoman Kandun, director for disease control and environmental health at the Health Ministry, said he has not received any information about the results of the research by Nidom, who is also a member of a government-sanctioned commission on bird flu control and preparedness.
There are many unproven "rumors" about bird flu, Kandun said.
The education ministry has allocated about 300 million rupiah (about $32,500) for bird flu research in fiscal 2006 and 2007.
After no bird flu cases among humans were recorded in the country for three months, new cases began to emerge with the deaths of four people in as many days last week.
Another patient, the 18-year-old son of a 38-year-old woman who died last week, has also tested positive for bird flu, marking the country's first bird flu cluster this year. The son is still being treated in hospital.
Since bird flu began to hit Indonesia in mid-2003, up to 15 million infected fowl have died in 224 regencies in 30 of the country's 33 provinces.
The government said 16 of the 30 provinces are considered to be free of bird flu, having had no cases in the last six months.
World Health Organization statistics as of last Friday showed that bird flu has infected 265 people in 10 countries since its emergence in December 2003, with 159 of them having died, among them 59 Indonesians. That did not take account of the two who died late Friday and early Saturday.
Indonesia's lead is followed by Vietnam with 42 fatalities and Thailand with 17. The other affected countries are Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq and Turkey.
Monday January 15, 3:54 PM
(Kyodo) - About 100 of 500 stray cats surveyed in Indonesia were carrying the H5N1 bird flu virus, a local scientist said Monday.
C.A. Nidom, who first reported that bird flu had entered Indonesia in 2003 but was ignored by the government, told Kyodo News the finding was based on his research funded by the Ministry of National Education and conducted on Java Island and in Lampung Province of Sumatra Island from September to December last year.
"I will bring the results of my research to the Institute of Medical Science of the University of Tokyo next month for further tests," he said by telephone from Saudi Arabia.
"I'm worried that the virus will be more easily transmitted to humans because the body temperature of mammals like cats is similar to that of humans," he added.
He took blood samples from cats living around wet markets that sell chickens and hospitals designated for bird flu patients in the East Java provincial capital Surabaya, the Central Java provincial capital Semarang, West Java's Bandung, Lampung's Bandarlampung, and Jakarta and its suburb Tangerang.
Nidom, a molecular biology expert at the state-run University of Airlangga, said the results were reported to the Health Ministry, but they have not been published and followed up on.
I Nyoman Kandun, director for disease control and environmental health at the Health Ministry, said he has not received any information about the results of the research by Nidom, who is also a member of a government-sanctioned commission on bird flu control and preparedness.
There are many unproven "rumors" about bird flu, Kandun said.
The education ministry has allocated about 300 million rupiah (about $32,500) for bird flu research in fiscal 2006 and 2007.
After no bird flu cases among humans were recorded in the country for three months, new cases began to emerge with the deaths of four people in as many days last week.
Another patient, the 18-year-old son of a 38-year-old woman who died last week, has also tested positive for bird flu, marking the country's first bird flu cluster this year. The son is still being treated in hospital.
Since bird flu began to hit Indonesia in mid-2003, up to 15 million infected fowl have died in 224 regencies in 30 of the country's 33 provinces.
The government said 16 of the 30 provinces are considered to be free of bird flu, having had no cases in the last six months.
World Health Organization statistics as of last Friday showed that bird flu has infected 265 people in 10 countries since its emergence in December 2003, with 159 of them having died, among them 59 Indonesians. That did not take account of the two who died late Friday and early Saturday.
Indonesia's lead is followed by Vietnam with 42 fatalities and Thailand with 17. The other affected countries are Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq and Turkey.
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