Bird flu kills 3-year-old boy in Indonesia, world hotspot for the virus

The Jakarta Post   |  Wed, 04/30/2008 4:08 PM  |  National

A 3-year-old boy has died from bird flu in Indonesia, raising the death toll from the disease there to 108, the country's Health Ministry said Wednesday.

Indonesia's human bird flu deaths account for nearly half of the 240 recorded fatalities worldwide.

The latest victim first showed flu-like symptoms -- high fever and breathing difficulties -- on April 17 and died in a hospital five days later, said ministry spokeswoman Lily Sulistyowati.

The child had "a history of contact with dead poultry," she said.

Two laboratory tests showed that he had been infected by the feared H5N1 virus.

Indonesia has regularly recorded human deaths from bird flu since the virus began ravaging poultry stocks across Asia in 2003. So far most human cases have been linked to contact wit infected birds, but experts worry the virus could mutate into a more dangerous form that passes easily between humans.

Because of its high density of chickens and people and its poor medical facilities, Indonesia is seen as a high-risk place for that to happen. The government has been accused of doing too little too late to stamp out the virus, which is now endemic in all but two of the country's 33 provinces.

Thousands of people took part in a massive three-day influenza pandemic drill on part of Bali island over the weekend. The simulation involved police isolating villages, shutting schools, and quarantining people inside their homes.

"We wanted to show the world that we are prepared, that we are ready to contain and stop this virus in the event of a pandemic," said the ministry's director general for communicable diseases Nyoman Kandun. (****)

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