Two Indonesian Teenagers Die Of Bird Flu

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Main Category: Bird Flu / Avian Flu
Article Date: 08 Aug 2006 - 11:00 PDT

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Indonesian authorities say two teenagers, a boy and a girl, have died of bird flu infection, bringing the country's death toll to 44. When second test results confirm this, Indonesia will have overtaken Vietnam as the country with the highest number of bird flu deaths in the world. Indonesia has also registered more bird flu deaths this year than any other country.

Vietnam has had 42 deaths. However, no one has died of bird flu in Vietnam since the beginning of this year.

Initial lab tests indicated the boy and the girl had were infected with H5N1. The boy, 16, died on Monday, while the girl died on Tuesday. The girl, from Tangerang, was hospitalized on August 4. The boy was from Bekasi.

Indonesia used to send samples to WHO-affiliated labs for confirmation. Now the criteria in Indonesia for confirmation is that if two Indonesian labs confirm, then that case is confirmed and WHO is told about it.

According to local officials, the boy had had extensive contact with infected chickens before he became ill.

Indonesia has asked for financial assistance to combat the spread of bird flu. The country had to deal with a devastating tsunami a couple of years ago which caused about $4 billion in damages and over 100,000 human deaths.

Some facts about Indonesia

Area
1,919,440 sq km (slightly less than three times the size of Texas)
Consits of thousands of islands

Natural Resources
petroleum, tin, natural gas, nickel, timber, bauxite, copper, fertile soils, coal, gold, silver

Natural Hazards
occasional floods, severe droughts, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, forest fires

Population
245,452,739 (July 2006 estimate)

Age Structure
0-14 years: 28.8% (male 35,995,919/female 34,749,582)
15-64 years: 65.8% (male 80,796,794/female 80,754,238)
65 years and over: 5.4% (male 5,737,473/female 7,418,733) (2006 est.)

Infant Mortality Rate
total: 34.39 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 39.36 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 29.17 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

Life Expectancy at Birth
total population: 69.87 years
male: 67.42 years
female: 72.45 years (2006 est.)

Ethnic Groups
Javanese 45%, Sundanese 14%, Madurese 7.5%, coastal Malays 7.5%, other 26%

Literacy
total population: 87.9%
male: 92.5%
female: 83.4% (2002 est.)

Religions
Muslim 88%, Protestant 5%, Roman Catholic 3%, Hindu 2%, Buddhist 1%, other 1% (1998)

GDP (Gross Domestic Product)
$270 billion (2005 est.)

Unemployment Rate
11.8% (2005 est.)

Population Below Poverty Line
16.7% (2004)

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

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