H5N1

Indonesia: Woman is 102nd H5N1 death

Via Xinhuanet: Death toll of bird flu hits 102 in Indonesia. Excerpt:

A 32-year-old woman has died of bird flu at a Jakarta hospital, bringing the country's total death toll of the virus to 102, according to TV news report on Friday.

The woman has been treated at the Persahabatan Hospital since Jan. 26 and laboratory tests confirmed later that she had the H5N1virus, reported Metro TV.

She died late on Thursday after multiple organ failure.

This is probably "RF," described at KOMNAS FBPI as a 31-year-old female.

The first Indonesian H5N1 death this year was reported on January 14, 17 days ago. In those 17 days, 8 persons have died in Indonesia of avian influenza.

India: Explaining H5N1

The Indian media response to H5N1 has been as interesting as the outbreak itself: A torrent of exposé articles, political hatchet jobs, and pretty good reporting from the field. Now The Statesman has published Epidemic outbreaks, a long article on H5N1 itself.

The author is the director of the Centre for Ecological Engineering in Malda, one of the districts afflicted with B2B H5N1. It's a moderately technical piece, and not edited for easy online reading. It won't enlighten the backyard poultry farmers, but it assumes a strikingly high level of education among its readers.

I take this as an encouraging development. If India's educated elite don't understand this disease, they're not going to make a persuasive case to the ordinary folks who are being asked to give up their chickens and ducks.

Pakistan: More on the Gadap suspected outbreak

Via Dawn: Bird flu fears hit another poultry farm in Gadap. Excerpt:

While poultry farmers and officials concerned in the Sindh and Karachi city governments are waiting for test reports pertaining to the recent large-scale deaths of birds, a surveillance team on bird flu collected samples from another farm in Gadap Town on Thursday.

Sources in the poultry industry claimed that samples were drawn on Thursday from a poultry farm maintained by the Rangers in Gadap Town so that they could be sent to the National Reference Laboratory For Avian Influenza (bird flu), Islamabad.

In the meantime, some poultry producers and marketers continued making threatening calls to the family whose farm has been suspected of being infected with avian influenza (H5N1) virus for responding to media queries.

“The callers said that as we have ‘leaked’ the news to the media about the extraordinary number of deaths of commercial broiler birds and now we have to face the consequences,” said one of the family members.

“Would it be viable, from the public health point of view, to suppress the deaths of thousands of birds in four days or so, while the incidence of bird flu cases are frequent now in other countries of the region?” wondered a member of the family that owned the affected poultry farm owner in Gadap.

Contrary to the initial calculations that the Islamabad-based bird flu lab would communicate the test results of the 10 samples taken from birds of the suspected poultry farm by Thursday night, nothing was received in Karachi by the time this report was filed.

Indonesia's bureaucrats go into action

Take your problem to an architect, and the solution will be to build something. Bring your problem to me, and I'll advise you to write a book. Take your problem to a bureaucrat, and the solution will be more bureaucracy.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. Via the Jakarta Post: Local govts urged to enforce zoning regulations to halt spread of bird flu. Excerpt:

The central government on Thursday urged the administrations in Jakarta, West Java and Banten to strengthen their enforcement of bird flu regulations following a string of avian influenza deaths in the three provinces.

Of 101 reported bird flu deaths nationwide, Jakarta, West Java and Banten account for a combined 71 fatalities.

The most recent deaths were reported in Bekasi in West Java, Tangerang in Banten and in Jakarta.

The central government made the call during a meeting at the Coordinating Ministry for the People's Welfare. The meeting was presided over by the coordinating minister, Aburizal Bakrie, and attended by Home Minister Mardiyanto and Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari.

Also in attendance were Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo, Banten Governor Ratu Atut Chosiyah and West Java Governor Danny Setiawan, as well as mayors and regents from the three provinces.

If the bureaucrats do decide to crack down and enforce the anti-poultry regulations, who knows? They might even succeed.

Another suspected H5N1 death in Indonesia

In the CurEvents Flu Clinic Indonesia thread, Dutchie's post #75 carries a computer-translated report of a 15-month-old boy named Kevin Saputra who has died with symptoms of avian flu. Tests on poultry around the family's house were positive for H5N1, and blood samples from the little boy have gone to Jakarta.

Safety norms ignored for culling teams

Via The Times of India, the kind of report that ought to bring down at least the state government: Safety norms ignored for culling teams.

In a major safety lapse, the state government allowed thousands of culling team members to go home and mingle with their families and friends without putting them in quarantine — a mandatory step to ensure none of them has contracted the deadly bird flu virus.

The state has only now realized this potentially deadly blunder and is summoning the cullers back to base camps where they will be isolated and put through tests for 10 days.

The chief minister personally got into the act and held video conferences with district magistrates and sabhadhipatis to ensure that culling teams are quarantined after finishing operations. Armed policemen could be deployed to watch these camps.

"We have instructed DMs not to allow any culling team member to go home without being quarantined. They should also be administered Tamiflu tablets during culling and the quarantine period," said health minister Surjya Kanta Misra, who was present at the CM’s video conference along with animal resources development minister Anisur Rahman.

But by now, these culling team members - from Nadia, Hooghly, Birbhum and Murshidabad - have put at risk their families, neighbours and whoever they came in contact with. Officials who went to Malda and West Midnapore were the only ones to be quarantined.

"Even during quarantine, it has been noticed that many cullers leave the camps for most of the day to meet friends or relatives and only come back for the morning and evening roll call," said D P Chatterjee, the Haringhata BDO.

If even one of them has contracted the H5N1 virus, there is a great risk of the deadly flu spreading, say health officials in Nadia. Many of those quarantined reportedly went out to have food because they did not like the meals served at base camps.

Manipur on bird flu alert

Via Kangla Online, a report from The Imphal Free Press in Manipur state: After recovery of dead wild birds, vety dept on bird flu alert. Excerpt:

The state veterinary and animal husbandry services have gone on the alert following reports of unnatural deaths of wild birds during the last few days in the vicinity of Maharabi village, under Sekmai police station in Imphal west district.

As per official reports, at least eight local and migratory wild birds have been found dead at Maharabi village in the past three days. Out of this three dead birds have been collected by a veterinary department team yesterday and today.

Official sources said the dead carcass of a bulbul (khoining), was handed over by villagers to the veterinary team yesterday, while the carcasses of a dead urok and another bulbul were recovered from the same village today.

Dr Th Doren, director, veterinary and animal husbandry, said a rapid response team has also collected samples from domesticated birds, primarily poultry, being reared by the villagers today.

Manipur had an outbreak of B2B H5N1 last year, but it's been quiet for months.

The New York Times reports from Indonesia

Via The New York Times, a story datelined Koncang: Indonesian Chickens, and People, Hard Hit by Bird Flu. Excerpt:

The rooster started to crow at 3 a.m., and Partoparmin, a farmer in this small hillside village, went into his yard to look. All around him, chickens were lying on the ground, twitching and shaking.

“A few minutes later they were dead,” Mr. Partoparmin, 60, said, remembering that night three years ago. “Right away I thought this might be bird flu.”

Mr. Partoparmin buried the chickens as he had learned to do from televised announcements, and no tests were done to confirm the cause of their death. But all around Indonesia, since late 2003, chickens have been dying of bird flu. And more than in any other country, people are dying too, infected by chickens or other sources.

This is a pretty good article, conveying a sense of how ordinary Indonesians are dealing with H5N1.

Video: Bird flu suspected in Haryana

Via The Times of India, a news clip: Bird flu suspected in Haryana. Whatever the cause of the mass poultry deaths, it's disturbing to see people carrying dead chickens in their bare hands with no protective garments.

West Bengal: Human case?

Via The Statesman: Human victim of bird flu feared. Excerpt:

Panic broke out at Mangalpur More, Jogomaya Para in Balurghat today, over the illness of a 17-year-old girl.

The victim, Ms Priyanka Malakar has been admitted to the Balurghat Hospital with breathing trouble, high fever and rashes all over her body her body. Neighbours fear that the girl has fallen a victim to Bird Flu but the doctors are still not certain about it.

Admitting the matter, the CMOH, South Dinajpur Mr BB Mahapatra said that the symptoms were similar to human flu and measles.

“Nothing can be said for certain at this point. We are sending her blood samples for tests to Bhopal. She would be under observation till the test results reach us,” the CMOH, said.

Doctors treating the victim refused to comment on the matter, which has stoked further imagination and rumour.

It's probably not human H5N1, but such stories are inevitable. The more people know about avian flu, the less likely they'll be to worry about every respiratory illness. In any case, we can all wish Ms Malakar a swift recovery.