[Kabar-indonesia] update: New Bird-Flu Clusters Feared in Indonesia [+FT in Vietnam]

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

4 updates: 

- New Bird-Flu Clusters Are Feared 
  in Indonesia

- Three children suspected of bird flu 
  in Indonesia

- Indonesia burns almost 1,300 chickens 
  in Bali after positive bird flu tests

- FT: Hanoi's tough measures helpspeed 
  Vietnam's recovery from bird flu

Associated Press
August 2, 2006 

New Bird-Flu Clusters Are Feared in Indonesia

MEDAN, Indonesia -- Seven Indonesians from the same village on Sumatra were 
being treated for bird-flu symptoms Wednesday, in what doctors and officials 
fear could be two new clusters of the virus.

The patients, at least three of them children, are believed to have been 
infected by chickens in the same region of the island where seven members of one 
family died in May. It was unclear if there is any connection.

Blood tests still have to confirm H5N1 virus infections, but they are being 
treated as if they have the life-threatening disease.

"There are two clusters, one with two sisters, the other with three family 
members, and another two of their neighbors," said Nyoman Kandun, a leading 
Health Ministry official.

Senior Health Ministry official Hariadi Wibisono said samples were taken from 
the patients after they had been admitted to the Adam Malik hospital in Medan 
on Tuesday.

Public health authorities went looking for people with bird flu symptoms 
after dead chickens were found nearby. Those chickens have tested positive for 
avian influenza, Kandun said.

Indonesia has posted 42 human deaths from the H5N1 strain of the virus since 
July 2005. It grabbed world attention in May when seven members of a single 
family died of the virus -- the largest recorded cluster to date -- also on 
Sumatra island.

The World Health Organization concluded that limited human-to-human 
transmission likely occurred, but the virus did not spread beyond the blood family 
members.

Bird-flu clusters, or groupings of infections, are closely watched by experts 
because they can help determine if the illness is changing or becoming more 
easily transferable between people.

Spokeswoman Sari Setiogi said the WHO was aware of the latest case, but 
declined further comment. Among those believed to be infected this time are two 
sisters, 10 and 6, and an 18-month-old boy from the house next door.

Health officials said their condition was stable, but they have only just 
been placed under medical observation and may have pneumonia. Health Minister 
Siti Fadila Supari told reporters after meeting with hospital officials on 
Sumatra that "their condition for the time being is good."

Treating Dr. Luhur Soeroso said they "are just suffering from the usual 
fever, flu and cough" associated with bird flu.

Most humans who have contracted the virus had contact with infected poultry. 
But 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 world-wide since the disease began spreading in Asia in late 2003.

--------------------------------------

Three children suspected of bird flu in Indonesia

JAKARTA, August 2 (AFP) -- Three children in Indonesia, one of the
nations hardest hit by bird flu deaths, have been hospitalised on
suspicion of having the virus, a senior health official said
Wednesday.

Two siblings aged 10 and six and their 18-month-old neighbour, hailing
from a district where a cluster of seven bird flu deaths occurred in
May, were admitted to hospital in North Sumatra's Medan Tuesday,
Hariyadi Wibisono said.

The three were moved to the provincial capital from another hospital
near their village of Kabanjahe for "showing initial symptoms of
contracting bird flu," Wibisono told AFP.

The three, Wibisono said, come from the same subdistrict but a
different village in Karo district where the world's first
lab-confirmed cluster of human-to-human transmission of bird flu took
place.

"Their samples have been taken and I think there are four other people
from the same area who are in the process of being moved to Medan for
treatment," Wibisono said. He could not provide further details.

Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said in remarks broadcast on
ElShinta radio that officials had found the sick children while
conducting surveillance in the area and that one of them was suffering
from pneumonia.

Indonesia has reported the highest number of human bird flu fatalities
globally, along with Vietnam. Forty-two people have died here, while
outbreaks in poultry have been found in 27 of 33 provinces.

Separately, animal health officials on the popular resort island of
Bali said they had burned almost 1,300 chickens after most tested
positive for the bird flu virus.

Officials in Jembrana district killed some 845 backyard chickens that
tested positive the for potentially deadly H5N1 strain of the virus,
said I Gusti Ngurah Sanjaya, head of the district's animal health
office.

Sanjaya told AFP that workers and local residents also burned a
further 450 sick birds living within three kilometers (two miles) from
the outbreak.

"We have carried out bio-security measures by spraying coops in five
separate locations in Jembrana. Any chickens found dead or sick were
burned and buried, and public awareness of the disease is quite good,"
Sanjaya said.

Sanjaya said no residents of Jembrana, where there are about 1.5
million backyard chickens, had so far been hospitalised on suspicion
of infection.

"There are none reported so far but clearly we are concerned about
this and that's why we are conducting preemptive measures," he said,
adding that officials recently gave 200,000 vaccine doses to backyard
farmers in Jembrana.

He estimated that Bali -- Indonesia's top tourism drawcard -- has
about five million backyard chickens.

Indonesia has been accused of acting too slowly to curb the spread of
the H5N1 virus and criticised for failing to conduct mass slaughters
of sick birds, as recommended by the United Nations and carried out by
Vietnam and Thailand.

The government, arguing it is faced with financial constraints, has so
far opted to vaccinate poultry instead.

-------------------------------------------------------------

BBC Monitoring Newsfile
August 2, 2006
Source: Antara news agency, Jakarta,
in English 2 Aug 06

Indonesia burns almost 1,300 chickens 
in Bali after positive bird flu tests

Text of report in English by Indonesian news agency Antara website

Animal health officials said Wednesday [2 August] they had burned
almost 1,300 chickens after most tested positive for the bird flu
virus on Indonesia's popular resort island of Bali. Officials in the
Jembrana district killed some 845 backyard chickens that tested
positive for the potentially deadly H5N1 strain of the virus, said I
Gusti Ngurah Sanjaya, head of the district's animal health office. He
told AFP that workers and local residents also burned a further 450
sick birds living within three kilometres (two miles) from the
outbreak.

"We have carried out bio-security measures by spraying coops in five
separate locations in Jembrana. Any chickens found dead or sick were
burned and buried and public awareness of the disease is quite good,"
Sanjaya said.

The world's fourth most populous nation shares the highest number of
human bird flu fatalities, reporting 42 deaths, the same number as
Vietnam. Outbreaks in poultry have been found in 27 of its 33
provinces.

Sanjaya said no residents of Jembrana, where there are about 1.5
million backyard chickens, had so far been hospitalized on suspicion
of infection. "There are none reported so far but clearly we are
concerned about this and that's why we are conducting pre-emptive
measures," he said, adding that officials recently gave 200,000
vaccine doses to backyard farmers in Jembrana. He estimated that Bali
- Indonesia's top tourism draw card - has about five million backyard
chickens.

Indonesia has been accused of acting too slowly to curb the spread of
the H5N1 virus and criticized for failing to conduct mass slaughters
of sick birds, as recommended by the United Nations and carried out by
Vietnam and Thailand. The government, arguing it is faced with
financial constraints, has so far opted to vaccinate poultry instead.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Financial Times (UK)
August 2, 2006

Hanoi's tough measures helpspeed 
Vietnam's recovery from bird flu

By AMY KAZMIN

A determined response from a Communist party apparatus that penetrates
every village has kept the virus in check, says Amy Kazmin.

It was an act of faith for Hoang Van Manh, a 36-year-old Vietnamese
poultry farmer, to keep feeding his 2,000 valuable chickens in early
2004, when bird flu swept through Vietnam, claiming human lives and
shutting down the once brisk poultry trade.

Mr Manh, the owner of three large egg incubators, had prospered by
selling newly hatched chicks to other farmers. But as demand for birds
dried up, the backyard hatchery operator was forced to kill 20,000
unwanted chicks and destroy 30,000 fertilised eggs.

But Mr Manh's village, on Hanoi's outskirts, was further than 5km from
any confirmed bird flu cases, so he was not required to cull his adult
birds. Instead, he spent 1m dong (Dollars 60, Euros 50, Pounds 35) a
day feeding them during anxious months without sales.

"The government was calling for farmers to change to other jobs,
instead of poultry raising, but I trusted that the authorities would
be able to control this bird flu problem, and that we would be able to
go on," he recalls.

Mr Manh's faith was not misplaced. Vietnam - where bird flu once raged
seemingly out of control in poultry, and where the virus killed 42 of
the 92 people infected - is an example of how determined,
comprehensive efforts can check the potentially lethal virus.

After culling 51m birds, or more than 17 per cent of the domestic
poultry population, and conducting a comprehensive vaccination
campaign, Vietnam has not registered any human avian influenza cases
since mid-November, nor any outbreaks in birds since mid-December.

Its success is in stark contrast to countries such as Indonesia, where
bird flu has killed at least 42 people since July 2005, but is doing
little to tackle the virus.

Vietnam's combination of aggressive culling, vaccination and intensive
surveillance - using a Communist party apparatus that penetrates even
remote villages - is seen as a potential model for authorities from
other developing countries.

Still, agricultural experts caution that the lethal H5N1 virus is
almost certainly present in migratory birds, waterfowl and ducks,
while domestic birds smuggled over the border from China could
introduce the virus. Small disease outbreaks in domestic poultry could
be passing unnoticed.

"It's like a ceasefire - some sort of temporary respite," said Jeffrey
Gilbert, a Hanoi-based expert on avian influenza from the United
Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation. "But the virus is not gone,
and we wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if there was a new
outbreak."

Bird flu spread widely in Vietnam before authorities recognised the
threat in early 2004 and moved into battle mode. While Hanoi was not
able to enforce fully its bans on poultry movements, duck-raising and
live bird markets or its aggressive culling programme, its
authoritarian Communist structure proved useful for disease
surveillance, raising public awareness and ensuring reasonable
compliance with various restrictions.

When outbreaks persisted through mid-2005, Hanoi raised the
compensation for dead and culled birds to 50 per cent of market value,
up from 10 per cent, encouraging more co-operation from farmers. Then
in October, Vietnam launched an expensive, logistically complicated
campaign to vaccinate domestic poultry. The measures appear to have
checked the virus.

Vietnam's battle against bird flu is far from over. Bui Quang Anh,
director of the government's Department of Animal Health, said Hanoi
was worried about bird flu in China, and the uncontrolled cross-border
poultry trade. Public complacency about bird flu posed another risk.

"If people get tired and don't take precautionary measures, the
situation will be very dangerous," he said. "If we don't pay
attention, bird flu may re-erupt."

Rapid response will be crucial after 2008, when Vietnam is likely to
end its vaccination programme. "We want to be sure that we don't have
a repeat performance," Mr Gilbert said.

Hanoi has asked the international community for Dollars 266m (Pounds
143m) in aid to boost veterinary services and disease control,
restructure its poultry industry and improve health services.

But to Mr Manh, now back in business, the future looks bright. Sales
are picking up, as farmers rebuild their poultry flocks. His adult
birds have been vaccinated, and his monthly profits are about 10m
dong, on revenues of 40m dong. He is planning to expand his flock to
3,000 birds. "Things are getting better," he said. "Not many farmers
are still worried about bird flu."

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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