If local tests are confirmed, Indonesia has now matched Vietnam in the number of human deaths suffered from H5N1: Local tests show Indonesian man died of bird flu.
A 44-year-old Indonesian who died four days ago has tested positive for bird flu, a senior Health Ministry official said on Sunday, citing a local test.
If the diagnosis is confirmed by a laboratory sanctioned by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the East Jakarta man would be the 42nd bird flu death in Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago where the virus has killed millions of fowl and caused more human deaths this year than in any other country.
Confirmation would take Indonesia level with Vietnam as the country recording the most human fatalities from the H5N1 strain of the avian flu virus. Vietnam's 42nd death occurred in 2005.
"Like so many other bird flu cases, the man had contact with a dead chicken in his neighbourhood. He died on July 12 and we are now waiting for the confirmation," I Nyoman Kandun, director general of communicable disease control at the Health Ministry, told Reuters.
After the events of the last few weeks, reporting contact with dead chickens doesn't really mean "case closed." It just means the Indonesians are sticking to their story, whether the rest of the world believes it or not.
