[Kabar-indonesia] Two Children May Have Bird Flu - Indonesia Official

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

Two Children May Have Bird Flu - Indonesia Official

JAKARTA, Aug. 2 (AP)--Two Indonesian children from the same family are 
believed to have contracted bird flu and are being treated in hospital, a senior 
health ministry official said Wednesday. 

Laboratory tests have yet to be carried out on samples from the patients, but 
"early indications" show that they have the H5N1 virus, said Hariadi 
Wibisono. 

The pair, whose ages and identities weren't immediately released, are being 
treated in the infectious diseases unit of a hospital in Medan city, in the 
north of Sumatra island, he said. 

Their state of health wasn't immediately clear. 

Metro TV reported that a third family member was also being treated at the 
same hospital. 

Wibisono said that two children didn't live close to the North Sumatran 
village where seven family members died from bird flu in May, in the largest such 
cluster of deaths from the H5N1 virus so far. 

World Health Organization spokeswoman Sari Setiogi said the agency was aware 
of the suspected cases, but declined to give details. 

Indonesia, a vast archipelago comprising nearly 18,000 islands, has posted 42 
human deaths from the H5N1 strain of the virus since July 2005 and is tied 
with Vietnam as the world's hardest-hit country. 

Experts fear the virus will mutate into a form that spreads easily among 
people, potentially sparking a global pandemic. So far, at least 134 people have 
died worldwide since the disease began spreading in Asia in late 2003. 

The cluster of seven deaths in Indonesian in May grabbed world attention. The 
World Health Organization concluded that limited human-to-human transmission 
was likely to blame, but the virus did not spread beyond the blood family 
members. 

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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