Via NEWS.com.au: Birds slaughtered as flu breaks out. Excerpt:
Hundreds of chickens and ducks have been slaughtered to contain a suspected bird flu outbreak in Indonesia as 13 people with flu-like symptoms await laboratory results.
Thirteen people were hospitalised earlier this week with fevers and respiratory problems after a large number of chickens died suddenly in their village in North Sumatra province.
Two of them, a baby boy and a seven-year-old girl, have been put in a bird flu isolation unit at a hospital in the provincial capital Medan.
"We have taken measures since Tuesday when we found strong indications of bird flu virus in some 100 chickens and ducks in several places in Air Batu village," said local husbandary office chief Oktoni Eryanto.
At least 400 birds have been slaughtered and burned, and officials were continuing to spray backyard coops with disinfectant, he said.
"We don't need to send samples from the poultry to a laboratory because it's pretty clear that the cause is the bird flu virus," he said.
"Preventive action is more important to control it."
A nurse at a local hospital said this week that three people had died in the village with flu-like symptoms, but health ministry officials have not been able to confirm any suspect deaths.
