Bird Flu Spreads in Indonesia

After the death of a nine-year-old, a 23-year-old woman and another man who was infected with the H5N1 virus, Indonesia now tops the list of countries most-affected by bird flu.

When the first human cases of bird flu were reported in Thailand and Vietnam four years ago, the disease was brought under control in those two countries.

But in Indonesia, not only has the number of humans infected with bird flu risen but also the death rate, which last year reached 88 percent.

Anne Kelso from the World Health Organisation (WHO) gave several possible reasons for this: “One is that the strain of the virus circulating in Indonesia is actually more virulent -- more dangerous -- for humans than equivalent viruses circulating in some other parts of the world.”

“Another is that it’s a question of detection rate and there may be more cases than we know about -- in a sense it’s an artefact of the figures rather than a true difference in the death-rates.”

Drug-resistant

Experts also fear that the H5N1 virus might already have become resistant to the bird flu drug Tamiflu. But Deoraj Caussy from the WHO also thought it could be a question of dosage, which could be changed “accordingly depending on research.”

It seems to be particularly difficult to prevent the spreading of bird flu in Indonesia’s rural regions and in the slums of the big cities, where many people rear chickens and live in close proximity to them. Some cases of bird flu are not being reported.

“For many people who are farming poultry,” explained Anne Kelso, “chickens and ducks are their primary source of income and of protein. If their entire flock is culled, they might be left with nothing and therefore they might be reluctant to report any cases of bird flu.”

Poultry rearing was forbidden last year in Jakarta and other urban centres in Indonesia. However, the authorities have since accepted that is almost impossible to enforce the ban.