51st Human Bird Flu Case Confirmed In Indonesia

Featured Article
Main Category: Bird Flu / Avian Flu
Article Date: 21 Jun 2006 - 9:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

Indonesia's Health Ministry has confirmed that a 13-year-old boy is the country's 51st human case of H5N1 bird flu infection. The boy is from South Jakarta, he developed bird flu like symptoms on June 9 after helping out in the slaughtering of chickens. He went to hospital on June 13 and died the following day.

Authorities say his grandfather, who had been slaughtering chickens with him, is free of bird flu symptoms. People in the area are being monitored for signs of infection. Of the 51 humans who have become infected with H5N1 in Indonesia so far, 39 have died.

A consultation meeting is taking place in Jakarta at the moment between WHO, FAO and Indonesian ministries. The meeting ends on June 23. The aim of the meeting, which was held at the request of Indonesian authorities, aims to assess the bird flu situation in poultry and humans. More than 40 experts are attending, some from Indonesia and others from various parts of the world - they hope to offer advice on strategies for reducing the number of human cases in the country.

The experts will look at epidemiological and virological data collected during an investigation of a cluster of seven infected family members from Kubu Simbelang village of North Sumatra in May. Now, three weeks since the last case, no more infections have been identified in the area. Several viruses were isolated from the seven confirmed cases in the cluster. Experts from a WHO laboratory, who have fully sequenced the viruses, will present their findings during this consultation meeting.

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

• Additional
• References
• Citations