H5N1

One more suspected bird flu patient admitted to Sardjito hospital

Despite the bad news out of Nigeria today, the focus stays on Indonesia. Via Antara: One more suspected bird flu patient admitted to Sardjito hospital. Excerpt:

One more suspected bird flu patient, a 19-year-old teenager identified by the initials WS from Godean village in Sleman district, was admitted to the Dr Sardjito Hospital here on Wednesday.

"WS was admitted to Dr Sardjito Hospital at 11.41 a.m. local time on Wednesday," the hospital's bird flu handling task force's spokesperson, Amalia Setyati, said adding that his temperature was over 40 degrees Celsius.

Over the past week, Dr Sardjito Hospital had admitted one suspected bird flu patient after the other and with WS's entry on Wednesday their number had reached 9.

Amalia said a rapid test conducted on WS by a local clinic had indicated he was Avian Influenza positive but when reexamined at Dr Sardjito Hospital he tested negative.

"However, the bird flu mitigation task force team will send WS's blood and phlegm samples to the Health Ministry's research and development board (Balitbang) in Jakarta," she said.

Asked about the test result of blood and phlegm samples of eight similar patients who were earlier treated at the same hospital, Amalia said Balitbang in Jakarta had yet to give confirmation.

"The problem our hospital is facing now is that all beds for bird flu patients are occupied. Therefore, the bird flu mitigation team will discuss the matter to anticipate a further increase in the number of such patients," she said.

On Monday, six suspected bird flu patients were admitted to the same hospital.

"Four of the six patients belong to the same family hailing from Playen sub district, Gunungkidul district," spokesman of the hospital Trisno Heru Nugroho said.

Central Jakarta claims victory against bird flu

Via Jakarta Post: Central Jakarta claims victory against bird flu. Excerpt:

Central Jakarta claimed a major victory in the fight against bird flu Thursday, saying the heart of the capital had been cleared of backyard fowl and that residents elsewhere were handing in chickens for slaughter.

Poultry, however, could still be seen roaming freely in suburban neighborhoods and some people hid pet birds in their homes, raising doubts the campaign would prevent further human deaths in the country hardest hit by the virus.

"I can guarantee there are no backyard birds in Central Jakarta," said Muhayat, the mayor of Central Jakarta. "The people here are now fully aware of the disease and voluntarily culled their birds."

Indonesia has tallied 63 human deaths from bird flu, more than a third of the world's total. It has come under criticism for failing to crack down on bird flu when it first appeared in poultry stocks nearly four years ago, but has since taken more concerted steps to stamp out H5N1.

The head of Jakarta's Animal Husbandry Department, Edi Sutiarto, said Wednesday more than 100,000 domestic chickens, racing pigeons and ducks had been slaughtered by their owners in recent weeks, but that is only a 10th of the estimated number inthe capital.

The virus is now endemic in chickens flocks almost nationwide and, despite optimism late last year that it may have been contained, it killed six people in the last month.

Thailand: No bird flu found in tests on 373 patients

Via The Nation: No bird flu found in tests on 373 patients. Excerpt:

Since bird-flu infections among fowls were detected early this year, hospitals have put 424 patients with symptoms similar to avian flu under close medical surveillance pending laboratory tests.

Results for 373 of the patients are already available. MSD director-general Dr Paijit Warachit yesterday said up to 179 had tested positive to human influenza.

Most human-flu patients were young children and middle-aged adults.

"The information will be a basis on which we decide who should be given human-flu vaccine. Human flu causes high fever, which can lead to convulsions in children," he said.

Public Health Ministry's permanent secretary Dr Prat Boonyawongvirot said no patient had tested positive to the virus in the latest bird-flu scare.

Since bird flu first erupted in the country a few years ago, the disease has claimed lives every year. Authorities have confirmed that no one has caught the deadly virus this year up to now.

More on the first Nigerian death

Via Canadian Press, some details about the death in Lagos: Young woman becomes Nigeria's first human victim of deadly bird flu. Excerpt:

Bird flu has claimed its first human victim in Africa's most-populous country, killing a young Nigerian woman due to graduate from university and be married this year, officials and the victim's fiance said Wednesday.

The Jan. 17 death in Lagos, a teeming city where chickens and other fowl are raised in close quarters with humans, is an ominous development in a country with poor health care and little government presence in remote areas.

The victim, whose name was not released by the Information Ministry, was finishing her accounting degree and got engaged last month, her fiance told The Associated Press.

"She was a young girl, full of life, looking forward to this year," said the fiance, who asked not to be named so that his loved one's family could grieve in peace.

"For the last two weeks, I've been lost," the 25-year-old financial consultant said. "If they find a cure, I hope they name it after her."

Another woman, a member of the dead woman's household, was also infected, Information Minister Frank Nweke said, but she was responding to treatment.

H5N1 in Abkhazia

Via Bird Flu Breaking News: H5N1 virus in Abkhazia. Evidently it's already become a political issue:

The first case of H5N1 virus has been fixed in Gudauta a week ago. Examinations have been carried out by Russian experts. They are monitoring a coast of the sea but do not spread an information.

Fixation of this virus in Gudauta is linked with its spreading in Krasnodar territory. Abkhazian de facto government hides this information from the population but people asks for help because of massive cases of Bird Flu.

Existence of this virus in Abkhazia threats to other territories of Georgia too.

Nigeria to investigate H5N1 deaths

The reports of at least one human H5N1 death in Nigeria are all over NewsNow, but the English-language Nigerian media are surprisingly quiet about it. Here's an exception from the Abuja Daily Trust, via allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Bird Flu - FG to Investigate Deaths. Excerpt:

The federal government yesterday in Abuja commissioned investigations into the death of three people in Lagos and Taraba allegedly as a result of infection by the bird flu epidemic in the country.

This was revealed by the minister of information and communication, Mr. Frank Nweke Jr. who briefed the journalists on the outcome of special FEC meeting held at the presidential villa Abuja, yesterday.

According to the minister, blood samples from the dead persons have been sent for confirmation test in London and Rome to ascertain if their death was as a result of the Avian flu virus as being speculated.

Mr. Nweke however assured Nigerians that the result of the confirmatory test will be made public as soon as it is ready.

He also said that the federal government is taking steps to check the spread of the flu which once again roared its ugly head in some parts of the country recently as was reported by media.

The minister advises members of the public to make minimal contact with poultry birds and to cook the poultry products properly before consumption, to forestall the transmission of the virus to humans.

Having told us as recently as yesterday that the cases "probably" weren't H5N1, Nigeria's government sounds a little unprepared for this turn of events.

Jakarta poultry sweep starts February 1

Via Kominfo Newsroom: Jakarta govt to start poultry sweeping 1 Feb 2007.

The Jakarta government will start poultry sweeping in residential areas here starting Feb. 1 following expiration of the opportunity given to certificate their pet poultries on Jan. 31, 2007.           

“Tomorrow we will start sweeping  from house to house and there will be no more birds and chickens,” said Jakarta governor Sutiyoso here Wednesday(31/1).            

Sweeping will be directed against poultry banned in residential areas and pets not yet certificated, as stipulated in governor’s regulation no 15 Year 2007.

Sutiyoso said the absence of banned poultry and uncertificated pets  in residential areas will reduce the spread of the extremely lethal H5N1 avian flu virus.
           
This means that infection from bird to humans will be cut.
            
Residents are called upon to report to the authorities fellow residents raising the banned poultry in their homes.
            
“Sweeping operations do not need police involvement,” the governor said.

Indonesia may declare bird flu “national disaster”

Via the Khaleej Times: Indonesia may declare bird flu “national disaster.” Excerpt:

Indonesia may declare bird flu a national disaster, a minister said as the capital prepared for a ban on backyard poultry which comes into force Thursday in its battle against the deadly virus.

Indonesia has suffered the highest bird flu death toll with six fatalities so far this year and 63 since June 2005.

Declaring the outbreak a national disaster would allow for nationally-coordinated measures and greater funding, National Development Planning Minister Paskah Suzetta said Wednesday.

“It is now going that way. The president has given indications that this is a national disaster that we should handle. So the handling will no longer be on an ad hoc basis,” Suzetta was quoted by the state Antara news agency as saying.

He said that the bird flu outbreak met the criteria of a national disaster as it had already caused a lot of casualties and its spread could not be contained.

Local authorities are currently responsible for the fight against bird flu in their own area while the central government only provides guidance and vaccines, he said.

Declaring it a national disaster would allow handling procedures to be standardised for all regions.

Dead Nigerian woman tests positive for H5N1

Via Reuters: Dead Nigerian woman tests positive for bird flu. Excerpt:

A Nigerian woman who died of flu symptoms has tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus, Information Minister Frank Nweke said on Wednesday, the first reported death from the virus in the West African country.

The woman from Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos is the first confirmed human victim of bird flu in sub-Saharan Africa, after the deadly disease was first found in poultry in Nigeria a year ago.

"Last night our team of 13 scientists were able to conclusively identify the case of avian influenza in a 22-year-old female who died in Lagos," Nweke told a news conference.

The woman was one of 14 people, three of whom died, from whom samples were taken for tests that were concluded on Tuesday. Samples are now being sent to foreign laboratories for confirmation.

Robert Webster stops by to talk shop

Dr. Tara Smith at Aetiology has a wonderful post: Influenza virologist Robert Webster stops by to talk shop. An absolute must-read.