Re: New H5N1 in Garut
siam said:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060814154128&irec=0
Indonesian bird flu patient refuses treatment, officials say
JAKARTA (AP): Indonesia's latest bird flu patient checked out of hospital after spending just a night there, while his cousin died last week showing symptoms of the virus but was not tested in time, health officials said Monday.
Umar Aup was admitted to a hospital in West Java province last Wednesday and left the next day on the orders of his family, who said they could treat him at home with a mixture of prayers and traditional remedies, said Dr. Eka Sony, a Health Ministry official investigating the case.
The 17-year-old remains very ill, said Sony, who visited him Sunday in his remote village.
"Our team felt very frustrated we were not able to persuade the family to let doctors take care of Umar," said Sony. "His father said he has the right to choose the treatment for his son, whatever the risk."
Villagers said Aup and his cousin collected the carcasses of around 100 chickens that died suddenly last week and fed them to dogs, said Sony.
Sony said Aup's cousin died after showing symptoms of the virus.
Health officials have said they suspect that many Indonesians have died from bird flu unreported because they no tests were performed.
Laboratory tests have confirmed Aup has the virus.
Just under 60 percent of those who contract the virus die from it, according to a breakdown of cases reported to the World Health Organization.
The case shows the challenges facing health workers dealing with bird flu in Indonesia, a sprawling country which last week became the country worst hit by the virus. It has recorded 44 deaths.
The H5N1 virus has killed at least 138 people worldwide since it began ravaging Asian poultry stocks in late 2003, according to a tally kept by the WHO.
Most human cases have been traced to contact with infected birds, but experts fear the virus -- which remains hard for people to catch -- will mutate into a form that spreads easily among people, potentially sparking a pandemic.
The virus is rampant among Indonesia's billions of backyard chickens.
Slaughtering often isn't carried out following outbreaks, vaccination is spotty and surveillance is weak, international experts say. (***)
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060814154128&irec=0
Printed the whole article as they seemed to have trimmed it.
Thanks for posting the article Siam.... Obviously they did change the article...
I clicked the link, and following is the article that opened up:
Laboratory tests show a girl died of bird flu
JAKARTA (AP): A girl died of bird flu in an Indonesian village that has been hard hit by the disease, officials said Thursday, as they awaited test results for another child who fell ill inthe same area.
The death of Ai Siti Amanah raised the country's toll from the H5N1 virus to 46 and sparked an investigation by the Health Ministry amid fears of a possible new cluster.
The 9-year-old died early this week, one day after being admitted to a hospital in West Java province, and laboratory test results confirmed Thursday that she had the disease, said senior health official Nyoman Kandun.
Bird flu has killed at least 140 people worldwide since it began ravaging Asian poultry stocks in late 2003, with Indonesia tallying the highest number of human deaths, according to the World Health Organization.
Most people have been infected after coming into contact with infected birds, but experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans, potentially sparking a pandemic.
Health officials were looking closely at Ai's village, Cikelet, West Java, 150 kilometers (93 miles) southeast of the capital Jakarta.
There have been seven confirmed or suspected bird flu deaths or illnesses in the hamlet.
Ai's neighbor, Umar Aup, was sickened by the H5N1 virus and Aup's cousin and three others died before tests could be taken.
Officials said Thursday they were awaiting lab results for a child who was hospitalized Wednesday in West Java's capital of Bandung, where she was given the anti-viral drug Tamiflu, said Eka Sony, a health official.
"She is recovering," he said. "We are waiting for the test results to return."
Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said she was confident those infected in Cikelet had come into contact with chickens - scores of which have died in recent weeks.
But she said authorities would carry out tests to make sure the virus was not passed from person to person, since there have been so many suspected or confirmed cases there. (**)
zhttp://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060814154128&irec=0
