New avian flu cases detected in humans in Bali

Two children from Jehem village, Bangli regency, have been infected with avian influenza according to an initial laboratory check at Sanglah Hospital, making them the first avian flu cases among people this year.

W.A., 10, and his 5-year-old sister, N.R., both experienced similar avian flu-like symptoms and were transferred from the regency’s hospital to the central hospital in Denpasar on Friday afternoon.

“Both of them had avian flu symptoms including fever, difficulty breathing and lung infections. They tested positive for the disease based on our initial checks,” the hospital’s medical department director, A.A. Jaya Kusuma, told journalists on Saturday.

Jaya Kusuma said the hospital still needed to conduct the second and the third checks to confirm the diagnosis. The samples are being analyzed by Udayana University’s medical faculty and will go to the Health Research and Development Agency in Jakarta.

The medical faculty’s lab also confirmed on Sunday that the samples tested positive.

Since the avian flu outbreak in 2007, at least 46 people were treated at Sanglah Hospital, and two from Tabanan and Jembrana died. The island’s last case of avian flu among humans was recorded in 2008.

The children’s medical records showed that they both had fluctuating fevers since last week. The regency’s hospital said they had pneumonia, but at Sanglah Hospital it was revealed that they had been in contact with dead chickens.

“Their condition didn’t improve, so they were brought here. They are still in critical condition,” Jaya Kusuma said.

The hospital had a separate facility to treat patients with contagious diseases such as rabies and avian flu. The patients were diagnosed late and were taken to Sanglah already in critical condition.

The rooms used to treat W.A. and N.R. were sterilized. Their family members and the medical staff treating them have taken precautionary measures to avoid transmitting the disease. The cost of treatment will be paid for by the government.

The Bali Husbandry Agency said that it had not yet found the source of the infection at the village. “We have tested a number of dead chickens and those who allegedly had contact with them, but they tested negative for avian flu. We hope that further laboratory tests of the two patients will show negative results as well,” said agency head Putu Sumantra.

“We have sterilized the whole area and surrounding locations and asked people to report when they find a dead chicken,” he said, adding that bird-borne diseases usually spread in times ahead of the rainy season.

Another factor that can worsen the situation is that people still slaughter chickens themselves for religious offerings without considering health risks.

The agency recorded that the latest case of avian flu in Bali was in September when there were five cases in Badung and Jembrana.

A number of cases were also reported in March when at least 80 dead chickens were positively infected since February, including in Sobangan village in Badung, South Peguyangan village in Denpasar and Penebel and Marga villages in Tabanan. An avian flu task force has culled dozens of infected poultry.