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Commission fate still unclear while cases trickle in
The formation of a national-level commission to tackle animal-borne diseases that pose deadly threats to humans is still under discussion while across the country, multiple cases of bird flu continue to be reported
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he formation of a national-level commission to tackle animal-borne diseases that pose deadly threats to humans is still under discussion while across the country, multiple cases of bird flu continue to be
reported.
“There are several views: Some believe a national commission is needed, while others feel a working group is enough,” Rita Kusriastuti, the director general of zoonotic diseases at the Health Ministry, said Sunday.
March marked the end of the working term for the National Commission for Bird Flu Control and Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (Komnas FBPI), after four years of avian flu prevention and awareness campaigns.
The year the commission was formed, more than 40 people died from the disease.
While the number of those infected in 2010 is significantly smaller, several new cases have popped up in various parts of Indonesia.
The latest victim was a 13-year-old resident of Central Java.
The Health Ministry said the victim started experiencing flu-like synptoms on June 16 and was admitted to a hospital in Sukoharjo on June 21 before being referred to another hospital in Surakarta, also in Central Java, two days later.
The patient died a day after moving to the second hospital.
Just weeks earlier, the ministry recorded another death from avian flu. The H5N1 virus, known to cause the disease, struck in the country’s capital, Jakarta, and killed a 34-year-old resident.
On Sunday, Antara news agency reported that more than 70 chickens in six villages in Bengkulu province had died in the last two months from avian flu.
The coordinator for Bengkulu’s avian flu monitoring center, Emran Kuswadi, blamed the chickens’ sudden death on the virus. The carcasses were buried and the cages burned.
Deputy Agriculture Minister Bayu Krisna Murthi said the sporadic cases were still miniscule compared to the outbreaks five to six years ago, when the number of cases reached 300,000.
“The [H5N1] virus is still around. The key is that we are controlling its spread,” he said.
However, he warned that the avian flu monitoring and management bodies in the regions might be powerless to handle outbreaks on the scale of the ones a few years ago.
“We are prepared for the current situation, but should a major outbreak occur, we must be better prepared. Therefore, a national commission is needed,” Bayu, who chaired the Komnas FBPI, said.
The Agriculture Ministry said that in 2008, there were at least 1 billion domesticated chickens in the country. This does not include other poultry such as quail and ducks, which are also capable of spreading the virus.
Bayu declined to comment on the stalled formation of the Zoonosis Commission.
Indroyono Susilo, the secretary to the Coordinating Public Welfare Ministry, which is in charge of the formation of the commission, also declined to comment on the delay.
The Health Ministry said 167 cases of avian flu were recorded in the country, 138 of them fatal.
